Bud, Not Buddy

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Copyright: 2000

Citation: Curtis, C. P. (1999). Bud, not Buddy. New York: Delacorte Press.

Literary Awards, Honors, and/or Nominations

1. 2000 Golden Kite Award for Fiction: Honor Book
2. 2000 Coretta Scott King Award for Authors: Winner
3. 2000 John Newbery Medal: Winner
4. 2001 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award: Winner

Reading Level:
Grade Level Equivalent: 5.0
Lexile: 950L
DRA: 50
Guided Reading: U

-Original description of the book
Christopher Paul Curtis does an extraordinary job describing the hardships that many people had to go through during the Great Depression. The information that we learn about Bud and his journey to find his father makes this book relatable, humorous, yet also accurately and appropriately discusses poverty, racism, and homelessness.

-Corresponding Common Core State Standard
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.3: Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).  (Activity that addresses the standard: After Reading Comprehension Activity)

-Suggested delivery
1) Independent Read

-2 electronic resources
1) Bud, Not Buddy Literature Guide
2) Close Reading of Bud, Not Buddy

-3 teaching suggestions for grades 4-6
1) Use this book as part of a Social Studies unit to discuss the Great Depression, race, and family in the US.

2) Use this book as part of a Language Arts unit to discuss the metaphors and euphemisms that are used in the book and give students examples of commonly used metaphors and euphemisms.

3) Have students create an illustrated timeline that shows the development of communication, starting from the invention of the telegram to today’s modern technology.

-Key vocabulary
1) Commence: set in motion; cause to start
2) Urchin: a poor and often mischievous city child
3) Stricken: grievously affected especially by disease
4) Gait: the rate of moving, especially walking or running
5) Lam: a rapid escape that is often made by criminals
6) Kin: a person related to another or others
7) Slew: a large number
8) Sully: place under suspicion
9) Embouchure: the aperture of a wind instrument that the player blows directly in to
10) Prodigy: an unusually gifted or intelligent person
11) Ornery: having a difficult and contrary disposition

-An inferential comprehension writing activity
Create multiple copies of the questions that can be found here. Have students pick four numbers one through ten and then give them the accompanying questions to those numbers. By answering these questions, students will be able to demonstrate their inferential comprehension based on what they read from Bud, Not Buddy.

-Before Reading Comprehension Activity: Bud, Not Buddy Anticipation Guide

-During Reading Comprehension Activity:  Bud, Not Buddy Literature Guide

-After Reading Comprehension Activity: Differentiation- Highly able activity, Below level activity, Grade level activity

Ask the class to discuss Bud's relationship with his mother. What are some of his special memories of her? Why did his mother never tell him about his grandfather? Why do you think Bud's mother left home? Changed her last name? If Bud's mother was so unhappy, why did she keep the flyers about her dad's band? Why is Bud so convinced that Herman Calloway is his father? Discuss whether Bud is disappointed to learn that Calloway is not his father but his grandfather. What type of relationship do you think Bud will have with his grandfather? How is Calloway's Band like a family? What is Miss Thomas's role in Bud's new family?

Students will pick at least three chapters (these could be sequential or non-sequential) and they will create a cause and effect storyboard using Storyboardthat. Some examples of them can be found here.

Each writer will brainstorm experiences where he/she has learned some sort of lesson about life. Each will then come up with a personal list of "Rules and Things for a Funner Life," such as those shared in Bud, Not Buddy. Choosing at least one rule, each writer will expand upon the reason for the rule, using words carefully, to convince the reader of its importance. Teachers: click here to read the entire lesson plan.