Bud, Not Buddy. ISBN 978-0-440-41328-8. Christopher Paul Curtis. 1999. Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award. Ages 9-12. African American.

When 10-year-old Bud Caldwell decides that enough is enough of the orphanage and foster homes, he chooses the road and a quest to find the father he’s never met. 1936 Flint, Michigan has nothing left to offer Bud, so, with suitcase in hand, he heads out on foot to Grand Rapids in search of the famous Herman E. Calloway, certain that this man on the flyer is his father. “Bud Caldwell’s Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself” helped Bud, not Buddy, make it these four years since his mother died. On his journey, Bud meets people who are kind to him and are willing to help him. Bud’s life seems to finally be turning around with Herman Calloway, who, they are both surprised to discover, is Bud’s mother’s father.

Bud, Not Buddy could easily be used as the basis for useful classroom activities. Depression-era necessities could be studied, such as soup kitchens and Hoovervilles. To expand on these topics, the class could plan and execute a community service project. Depression-era music and photography could also be explored. Students could consider what items they would put in a suitcase that would represent their life and history. They could decorate the outside of a suitcase (drawn on paper), draw what they would put in it, and then write or tell about the contents.