Bud, Not Buddy
2000 Newbery Medal
By Christopher Paul Curtis
Sagebrush
2002
ISBN 0613367839
Ages: Young Adult
The book doesn't delve into Bud's past much, other than through his conversations where the reader gathers that his life has not been easy being shuffled back and forth between an orphanage he refers to as the Home, and several foster families who were abusive towards him. The last family he stays with is horrible, with an older boy abusing him and beating him up. His parents believe the lies he tells about Bud, which lands him in a locked shed. When he stirs up a hornet's nest, he breaks out, and eventually sets out to find his dad in another city many miles away. I like that the author included a librarian among a variety of people who recognized that Bud needed help, and provided it. The author showed a balance between the good and bad of humanity during the story, and Bud experienced both.
Throughout the book he shares entries from his list called Bud Caldwell's Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself. Right or wrong, his rules have been learned the hard way, and it has been a survival mechanism for him.
Bud, not Buddy carries everything he owns in an old suitcase held closed by twine. He's never known who is father is, but his mother left him some clues: some rocks with writing on them and some flyers advertising a group called Herman E. Calloway and His Band of Renown: The Dusky Devastators of the Depression. That'll sure fill up a flyer! Bud puts two and two together and decides that Herman Calloway's name is close enough to his own last name-- Caldwell, so he decides he's going to find him.
I like how the author used the names of his own grandfathers for characters in the book, and even used their same jobs and talents and the characters' own, too. Curtis shares that information at the back of the book, and includes their pictures and tells about these men who obviously made a great impact in Curtis's life. Their living through and surviving the Depression adds another authentic touch to the characters in the story.
The author does a great job developing his main character. Bud is such an appealing young man-- Curtis made it easy for the reader's heart to go out towards him. Bud is scrawny and usually hungry, wily and always on guard, but he also has impeccable manners and is a hard worker, too. In several places in the book, Bud says that his eyes don't cry anymore, but then at the right place, with the right people, the author lets Bud's pent up dam burst. And I love his metaphor of the maple seed that takes root and grows into a tall tree-- a small idea that grows into a plan, a reality, and a future for him.
The pieces of the story come together to a very satisfying conclusion, although it left me wondering how the rest of Bud's life turned out. I hope Mr. Curtis lets us know some day.