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From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

Ever since his mother died four years earlier, ten-year-old Bud Caldwell has been carrying around a small suitcase containing her mementos: a photo of his mother as a child, small stones with dates and places written on them, and a collection of old flyers advertising concerts by Herman E. Calloway’s jazz band. Bud isn’t sure what any of it means but he’s certain that it holds clues to the identity of his father, someone he’s determined to find after he runs away from the miserable foster home in which he was placed. Bud’s adventures on and off the road in Depression-era Michigan are told in a charming hyperbolic narrative, filled with humor and insight. Details of African-American social history are skillfully woven into the action-packed story which is sure to be a hit with young readers. Honor book: CCBC Coretta Scott King Author Award Discussion. (Ages 8-13)

CCBC Choices 2000 © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2000. Used with permission.

From School Library Journal

April 1, 2021

Gr 5-9-This series takes popular novels and works historical facts around them. Each book opens with a brief synopsis of the fiction title and a short biography of the author. Then the facts are exposed. Snippets of the stories are interspersed with nonfiction. Report writers who read the books will find much fodder here for research. The writing and illustrations work together to engage readers. Sections on discussion questions and writing prompts and projects are great for classroom use. VERDICT Students who enjoyed the novels will like reading about actual events and settings. These are solid choices, especially for school libraries.

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

From Booklist

April 1, 2021
Grades 4-7 While humor abounds as Bud sets out to find his father during the Great Depression in the Newbery Award-winner Bud, Not Buddy, there are also plenty of historical details for young readers to unpack. This selection from the Nonfiction Companions series (6 titles) helps students understand key terms, events, and influences on the setting, time period, and plot. The descriptive text begins with a short overview of the novel's author, Christopher Paul Curtis, his inspiration for Bud, and how his hometown of Flint, Michigan, became the novel's setting. Successive chapters focus on historical elements in the novel, from soup kitchens, Hoovervilles, and the KKK to labor unions, Pullman porters, and jazz. Additionally, the book includes many period photographs, discussion questions, reading activities, and writing prompts. An enriching supplement to the classic.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

From Publisher's Weekly

January 7, 2002
A 10-year-old boy in Depression-era Michigan sets out to find the man he believes to be his father. "While the harshness of Bud's circumstances are authentically depicted, Curtis imbues them with an aura of hope, and he makes readers laugh even when he sets up the most daunting scenarios," said PW
in our Best Books citation. Ages 9-12.

From Horn Book

January 1, 2000
It's the Depression, and Bud is ten and has been in and out of the Flint, Michigan, children's home and foster homes since his mother died. After a particularly terrible, though riotously recounted, evening with his latest foster family, Bud decides to take off and find the man he believes is his father, bandleader Herman E. Calloway. Bud's fresh voice keeps the sentimentality to a minimum, and the story zips along in step with Bud's own panache.

(Copyright 2000 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

From Library Journal

December 1, 1999
Gr 4-7-Motherless Bud shares his amusingly astute rules of life as he hits the road to find the jazz musician he believes is his father. A medley of characters brings Depression-era Michigan to life. (Sept.)

Copyright 1999 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

From Publisher's Weekly

September 6, 1999
As in his Newbery Honor-winning debut, The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963, Curtis draws on a remarkable and disarming mix of comedy and pathos, this time to describe the travails and adventures of a 10-year-old African-American orphan in Depression-era Michigan. Bud is fed up with the cruel treatment he has received at various foster homes, and after being locked up for the night in a shed with a swarm of angry hornets, he decides to run away. His goal: to reach the man he--on the flimsiest of evidence--believes to be his father, jazz musician Herman E. Calloway. Relying on his own ingenuity and good luck, Bud makes it to Grand Rapids, where his "father" owns a club. Calloway, who is much older and grouchier than Bud imagined, is none too thrilled to meet a boy claiming to be his long-lost son. It is the other members of his band--Steady Eddie, Mr. Jimmy, Doug the Thug, Doo-Doo Bug Cross, Dirty Deed Breed and motherly Miss Thomas--who make Bud feel like he has finally arrived home. While the grim conditions of the times and the harshness of Bud's circumstances are authentically depicted, Curtis shines on them an aura of hope and optimism. And even when he sets up a daunting scenario, he makes readers laugh--for example, mopping floors for the rejecting Calloway, Bud pretends the mop is "that underwater boat in the book Momma read to me, Twenty Thousand Leaks Under the Sea." Bud's journey, punctuated by Dickensian twists in plot and enlivened by a host of memorable personalities, will keep readers engrossed from first page to last. Ages 9-12.

From School Library Journal

Starred review from September 1, 1999
Gr 4-7-When 10-year-old Bud Caldwell runs away from his new foster home, he realizes he has nowhere to go but to search for the father he has never known: a legendary jazz musician advertised on some old posters his deceased mother had kept. A friendly stranger picks him up on the road in the middle of the night and deposits him in Grand Rapids, MI, with Herman E. Calloway and his jazz band, but the man Bud was convinced was his father turns out to be old, cold, and cantankerous. Luckily, the band members are more welcoming; they take him in, put him to work, and begin to teach him to play an instrument. In a Victorian ending, Bud uses the rocks he has treasured from his childhood to prove his surprising relationship with Mr. Calloway. The lively humor contrasts with the grim details of the Depression-era setting and the particular difficulties faced by African Americans at that time. Bud is a plucky, engaging protagonist. Other characters are exaggerations: the good ones (the librarian and Pullman car porter who help him on his journey and the band members who embrace him) are totally open and supportive, while the villainous foster family finds particularly imaginative ways to torture their charge. However, readers will be so caught up in the adventure that they won't mind. Curtis has given a fresh, new look to a traditional orphan-finds-a-home story that would be a crackerjack read-aloud.-Kathleen Isaacs, Edmund Burke School, Washington, DC

Copyright 1999 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

From Booklist

September 1, 1999
Gr. 4^-6. Bud, 10, is on the run from the orphanage and from yet another mean foster family. His mother died when he was 6, and he wants to find his father. Set in Michigan during the Great Depression, this is an Oliver Twist kind of foundling story, but it's told with affectionate comedy, like the first part of Curtis' "The Watsons Go to Birmingham" (1995). On his journey, Bud finds danger and violence (most of it treated as farce), but more often, he finds kindness--in the food line, in the library, in the Hooverville squatter camp, on the road--until he discovers who he is and where he belongs. Told in the boy's naive, desperate voice, with lots of examples of his survival tactics ("Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar out of Yourself"), this will make a great read-aloud. Curtis says in an afterword that some of the characters are based on real people, including his own grandfathers, so it's not surprising that the rich blend of tall tale, slapstick, sorrow, and sweetness has the wry, teasing warmth of family folklore. ((Reviewed September 1, 1999))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1999, American Library Association.)

From AudioFile Magazine

Bud Caldwell, a 10-year-old vagabond orphan in pursuit of his long lost father from Flint to Grand Rapids, Michigan, is the quintessential endearing hero. Bud's first-person narrative demands an enthusiastic and versatile reader. James Avery is all that and more. His Bud is charming and sincere, and the cast of characters, presented with endless variations in voicing, is authentic and memorable. His zippy reading creates the perfect mood. Add in occasional jazz tunes at chapter changes, as well as Bud Caldwell's Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar out of Yourself, and you just may have the best way to experience this award-winning book. T.B. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award. (c) AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine