Review Detail

I've often heard people complain that the books that win awards don't deserve them. No one could say that of Bud, Not Buddy, which won the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award.

Bud is a ten-year-old African American orphan in 1936. His mother died when he was six and he's been shuffled in and out of foster homes ever since. What's he's learned are things like:

You Have to Give Adults Something That They Think They Can Use to Hurt You by Taking It Away. That Way They Might Not Take Something Away That You Really Do Want. Unless They're Crazy or Real Stupid They Won't Take Everything Because if They Did They Wouldn't Have Anything to Hold Over Your Head to Hurt You Later. (Rule #118)

Bud has a list or rules he calls Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself. Some are cynical, some are funny and all have a sense of truth to them. They pop up throughout the book and provide a lot of insight into Bud's character.

The moment of truth comes when Bud finds himself locked in the spooky shed of his latest foster home's family (after being beaten up by the owner's son and blamed for it). He decides to high tail it out of there. After enacting some fitting revenge, he hooks up with a fellow escapee from the orphanage.

He doesn't stay long with Bugs before striking out on his own. You see, he has a dream. It grew from a passing thought, as Bud says, into a mighty tree of certainty. His mother had left behind some clues to his father's identity. Besides small rocks with city and date names written on them, he has a collection of flyers for Herman E. Calloway and his famous band. Bud is convinced that the giant fiddle player is his dad. Nothing anyone says or does, including Mr. Calloway, can convince him otherwise. The truth will surprise everyone, including Mr. Calloway and his band.

Bud is one of the most engaging characters I have read about in recent years. His voice rings true and you can't help but adore him (though he would be mightily embarassed if you told him that). Everday kids every where would enjoy this book, as will adults. Teachers could use it quite effectively as supplemental reading about The Great Depression.