Bud is an orphaned ten-year-old boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression. Since his mother�s death when he was six, Bud has been bounced between the orphanage and a parade of foster homes. Although his life lacks consistency and security, Bud has one thing he clings to tenaciously: an old cardboard suitcase, held together with string, that contains all his earthly possessions. Among his treasures are flyers, which his mother had saved, that advertise appearances of Herman E. Calloway and his band, the Dusky Devastators of the Depression. Bud becomes convinced that Calloway is his father, and after escaping from yet another abusive foster home, he decides to walk to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and introduce himself to his �father.�
Although he takes several detours along the way, Bud finally meets Herman E. Calloway, who seems none too thrilled to see him. The boy is befriended by members of the band, however, and taken under the wing of the vocalist, Miss Thomas. As events unfold, it is discovered that Bud�s mother was actually the estranged daughter of Calloway, who had run away from home years before. Bud finally has a family, a place to live, and friends. When the band members present him with his very own saxophone, he feels that he is, at last, where he belongs.
The story is told, in dialect, from Bud�s point of view. Curtis shows the reader, rather than tells, a child�s naivet� and innocence. When his friend, Bugs, suggests they flip a coin to settle a question, Bugs says, �Heads I win, tails you lose.� Bud readily agrees, and when he suffers the inevitable loss, his reaction is a resigned �Shucks!� and �Dang!� (p. 65, 66)
Curtis manages to get inside the mind of a ten-year-old, and verbalize his fears. Bud is caught off guard, and terrified when he starts to lose his baby teeth. �Unless you�re as stupid as a lamppost you�ve got to wonder what�s coming off next, your arm? Your leg? Your neck? Every morning when you wake up it seems a lot of your parts aren�t stuck on as good as they used to be.� (p. 5)
After warily accepting a car ride from a stranger, he sees a box on the car seat with the words: �URGENT: CONTAINS HUMAN BLOOD!!!� Bud reasons that �the only kind of people who would carry human blood around in a car were vampires!� He does the only �logical� thing: �I pulled the gear lever down and the car took off with the vampire running as hard as he could to catch me.� (p. 107)
Curtis provides comic relief by juxtaposing humor upon Bud�s painful experiences. When his foster mother unfairly chastises him for �attacking� her son, Bud is more focused on her choice of words than the message: �She talked like this and she wasn�t even a preacher or a teacher. Shucks, she talked strange like this and she wasn�t even a librarian.� (p. 15)
Bud�s early life had made him chary of humanity and shown him the usefulness of being a good liar. Curtis uses a motif throughout the book, �Bud Caldwell�s Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself,� to show Bud�s resourcefulness at adapting to life �on the street.�
Historical elements are woven throughout the plot, establishing an authentic setting. Food lines, Hoovervilles, desperate men stowing away on freight trains, the labor union struggle, and racism accurately depict the common man�s plight during the Depression. Society�s heightened need for entertainment, resulting in a proliferation of blues bands, is also historically accurate. Curtis bases some of the characters in the book on the lives of real people, including both of his grandfathers and their contemporaries who lived through the Depression.
Adult readers will undoubtedly recognize similarities between Curtis� writing style and Mark Twain�s. Just like Huckleberry Finn, Bud is more concerned with survival than feeling sorry for himself. Comedy arises from Bud�s perception of reality, and like Huck Finn, he takes a skill for lying and elevates it to an art form. Bud, like Huck, has good reasons for mistrusting humanity, because he has suffered at the hands of authority figures. Both books are set during pivotal moments in our country�s history, deftly incorporating social issues into the story of a young boy �on the lam.�
Bud, Not Buddy won both the Coretta Scott King Award and the Newbery Medal. Children will enjoy Curtis� use of humor, which in no way minimizes the pathos of Bud�s situation. Through the examination of one small life during the Depression, the reader gets a sense of the parallel tragedies that were being lived by many Americans during that dark time. Although it is the story of a child�s hardships and adversities, what one remembers is Bud�s independence, resilience, and determination, traits that will endear him to children and adults alike.
Related Websites:
America From the Great Depression to World War II:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsowhome.html
Archives of Early Lindy Hop:
http://www.savoystyle.com/
Christopher Paul Curtis:
http://christopherpaulcurtis.smartwriters.com/