Overview of 'Bud not Buddy' by Christopher Paul Curtis

Historical context of the book; Bud not Buddy is based in the great depression age in the 1930’s. Times were difficult in the united states and poverty dominated a large part of the country, citizens used to make long lines to eat daily, lines that could last up to four hours. Furthermore, the racism and racial segregation against black people was critical and black people were abused despite the slavery was abolished black Americans continued to be marginalized. The access to facilities such as housing, education and other opportunities were almost impossible to get for black American people.

By 1932, approximately half of black Americans were without work, racial violence significantly increased. The great depression lasted until the end of 30s which means that the protagonist of this story had already suffered a good part or better say a BAD part of this terrible crisis, since his early childhood.

Bud Caldwell is a ten years old boy who lose his mother when he was only six years old. Bud is not a regular ten-year-old boy, at this age kids are thinking to play with toy cars, running in their parent’s backyard or anything else that a normal kid used to do at this age. No, Bud was not thinking about playing because he had a purpose in his life, at this short age he already knew what he wanted to do, and he was highly decided to find his goal, and this one goal was to find his father.

Bud´s personality was strong, decided, stubborn, a little bit foolish and very very imaginative but he was an almost professional liar, he used to lie every time he could, but as a good liar he knew how to do it with no problems. Life taught him not to be confidence with almost no one adult and let alone if these adults were white. That´s why he wrote a personal journal called ´´Bud Caldwell´s´´ Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of yourself.

His Mom never told him who his father was, but she left him a clue: flyers advertising about Herman E. Calloway and his famous band, the Dusky Devastators of the Depression. Bud had an idea that those flyers will help him to find his father, once he decided to start his travel and find this mystery man, nothing could stop him, not fear, not hunger, not vampires, nothing.

For the last four years Bud was living in an orphanage, it was not an easy life but he could stand with it. One day in the morning at the breakfast line time, the manager of the orphanage told him that they´d found a foster temporal house for him and another little boy called Jerry Thomas. Bud was going to stay with the Amo´s Family who had a twelve year old boy and Jerry was going to stay with a family with three girls children, Jerry was only six years so he got scared about the idea of being the toy doll of three girls, it was horrible just thinking about it and he started to cry but But tried to calm him. This was the third time in that year that Bud went to a foster home, so he has more experience than Jerry. Without waiting for their breakfast, the manager gave them a little pot of fruits one for each other and they got into the car which would take Bud to start his long travel.

The Amos family had this young abusive boy which they called Todd, Bud´s welcome to the house of the amos was a huge beating by Todd, this abusive teenager apparently had problems with violence and temperament problems. Blood gushed from Bud´s nose and the worst part was that Todd was insatiable to see Bud suffer. This scene was one of the most shocking for me, it hurt to read how Bud was kicked with no mercy, I really do not understand how he endured so much evil.

Luckily, Mrs. Amoses entered the room and Todd stopped. Suddenly Todd saw Mrs. Amoses began to pretend strong pains like he was almost dying. He started to yell and lie saying that Bud started to fight him, Bud thought that Mrs. Amoses would be fair but her ears were only willing to hear what her beloved son said even with the evidence of the blood on the floor and Bud´s nose She was only to believe on what her son would say.

His mother told him not to let anyone to call him by Buddy because it was not his actual name, so every time Bud had to introduce his self, he always said My name is Bud not Buddy.

I really liked this book because it tells the story of an orphan boy named Bud, who has been adopted by three different families, the last being the Amos family. He talks a lot about the reality of many children who are orphans and are adopted by families who already have children, they are treated in many cases differently than biological children.

One part that caught my attention was the meaning of Bud’s name, which means ‘a flower waiting to open’. I loved the message that reflects the story, which implies that despite the things that happen to us, we must move forward, regardless of the barriers that arise. even though he repeatedly decides not to continue the search for what he thinks is his father Herman E. Callowar.

Something that I liked that he nevertheless learns to survive alone. At the end of the story Bud finds out at the end Herman Calloway in duty to be his father, is his grandfather, Bud got angry, and the members of a band decide to take him for a few days, in the end he stays living with his grandfather and at the end of the day they give him a saxophone and call him Sleepy la Bone.

Something that I liked is that Christopher is a writer only for children’s books, winning some awards for Bud not Buddy, I think Bud not Buddy is a very good book that teaches not to give up in the face of life’s difficulties.  

Works Cited

1. Brinkley, A. (2009). The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People. McGraw Hill Education.
2. Grossman, J. R. (2011). Creating Jim Crow: In-Depth Essay. National Museum of American History.
3. Lerner, M. (1997). American History through Literature. Charles Scribner's Sons.
4. McElvaine, R. S. (2009). The Great Depression: America, 1929-1941. Three Rivers Press.
5. National Park Service. (2021). The Great Depression. U.S. Department of the Interior.
6. O'Neill, W. L. (2015). The Great Depression. Greenwood Publishing Group.
7. Putnam, J. M. (2010). Racism in American Popular Media: From Aunt Jemima to the Frito Bandito. ABC-CLIO.
8. Rothenberg, P. S. (Ed.). (2008). Race, class, and gender in the United States: An integrated study. Macmillan.
9. Tolnay, S. E., & Beck, E. M. (1995). A festival of violence: An analysis of southern lynchings, 1882-1930. University of Illinois Press.
10. Watson, J. L. (2010). Cultural politics in the age of the New Deal. University of California Press.