Flint Michigan, 1936. Times are tough, and ten year old Bud is a motherless boy on the run, but he’s got a few things going for him: First, he has a suitcase filled with his own important, secret items. Second, he’s the author of Bud Caldwell’s Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself. And finally, although his momma never actually told him who his father was, she did leave a clue: flyers of Herman E Calloway and his famous band the Dusky Devastators of the Depression! Bud’s got it stuck in his head that those flyers will lead him to his father. Once he decides to hit the road and find this mystery man, nothing can stop him - not hunger, not fear, not vampires, not even Herman E Calloway himself. Bud, Not Buddy is funny and touching, hitting the high notes of Jazz and sounding the deeper, solemn tones of the Great Depression.

Bud, Not Buddy was read by James Avery.
James has appeared in many films including The Brady Bunch Movie and Simple Justice. He has also appeared in numerous television roles such as Hart To Hart and Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

What do you think?

Bud makes many interesting points with his “Rules and Things”. Pick two or three of your favorite rules. Do you think they make sense? Write about a time when something happened to you that reminds you of one of Bud’s rules.

According to Bud, what is the toughest age to be a kid? What are the reasons he gives for this? What is the real reason this age was the worst for him? What do you think is a tough age to be a kid? Explain why.

Online Adventures Where should you go from here?

Read about the author who says he’s funniest on paper and still considers himself a factory worker. Christopher Paul Curtis has some solid advice for young writers, you can read or listen to his message online.

Lefty Lewis tells Bud about the signs he has seen discouraging African Americans from staying in certain towns. Visit the Library of Congress American Memory page to see Farm Security Administration photographs of actual discrimination signs. You can also view FSA photographs of America from the Great Depression to World War II. There are pictures from all across the country - including The Champlain Valley Fair in Essex Junction, VT. And see photos celebrating the Golden Age of Jazz during the depression.

If you want to learn more about Jazz, visit the world’s largest not-for-profit organization dedicated to jazz. Listen to Jazz from Lincoln Center at the official website.

Become a newspaper reporter and learn more about life during the Great Depression. Try this Bud, Not Buddy webquest and get the scoop on the 1930’s.

Christopher Paul Curtis has the touch! If you liked Bud, Not Buddy try his first novel The Watson’s Go To Birmingham-1963 (Bantam Books, 1997). It won the Newbery Honor and a Coretta Scott King Honor.

Grace Greene from The Vermont Department of Libraries suggests you take a look at…

Aaron, Chester. Lackawanna. Lippincott, 1986.
A gang of abandoned children, living together during the Depression in order to survive, is galvanized into action when a hobo kidnaps one of its members.

Collier, James Lincoln. The Jazz Kid. Holt, 1994.
Playing the coronet is the first thing that twelve-year-old Paulie Horvath has taken seriously, but his obsession with becoming a jazz musician leads him into conflict with his parents and into the tough underworld of Chicago in the 1920’s.

Fenner, Carol. Yolonda’s Genius. McElderry, 1995.
After moving from Chicago to Grand River, Michigan, fifth grader Yolonda, big and strong for her age, determines to prove that her younger brother is not a slow learner but a true musical genius.

Fleischman, Paul. Seek. Cricket, 2001.
Rob becomes obsessed with searching the airwaves for his long-gone father, a radio announcer.

Levine, Gail Carson. Dave At Night. HarperCollins, 1999.
When orphaned Dave is sent to the Hebrew Home for Boys where he is treated cruelly, he sneaks out at night and is welcomed into the music and culture-filled world of the Harlem Renaissance.

Partridge, Elizabeth This Land Was Made For You And Me. Viking, 2002.
A biography of Woody Guthrie, a singer who wrote over 3,000 folk songs and ballads as he traveled around the United States, including “This Land is Your Land” and “So Long, It’s Been Good to Know You.”