This is the story of a young orphan named Bud who carries around a suitcase of personal treasures. Among them is a flyer giving clues to who his father was. He carries with him memories of his mother as well, including advice that she gave him while he was living. One bit of advice that she gave her son was that he was not to allow anyone to call him Buddy. She said she chose the name Bud because it represented beauty, growth and potential, like a flower, and for him to be called Buddy would lose that meaning.
Bud gets placed with different families and things never work out there. He is experienced in the ways of the real world. He knows how to play the game and to work the rules. He knows, for example, how to get into the soup kitchen after the line is already closed. He also knows how to apologize and not mean what he’s saying.
What he wants to know, though, is more information about his dad, and therefore about himself.
This is a nice little book whose author seems to have found a voice for the character of Bud that is both believable and engaging. As Buddy goes through his many “rules and things” throughout the book, the reader feels and understands how this child has reasoned through his unfortunate surroundings in order to make sense of them all. This title is a worthy addition to any collection geared towards younger readers.
Curtis, C.P. (1999). Bud, not buddy. New York, NY: Delacorte Press.
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