Bud, Not Buddy

Christopher Paul Curtis''s Bud, Not Buddy won both the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award in 2000, and it is one of the rare Depression-era novels that is genuinely funny. Ten-year-old Bud Caldwell has been in and out of foster homes and an orphanage in Flint, Michigan since his mother died. Armed with a suitcase of treasures and a set of self-written rules for "Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself," he sets out to find the jazz bandleader he is convinced is his father.

The comedy is real, but so is the history underneath it. Bud sleeps in a Hooverville, watches it get cleared by police, tries to ride the rails west, stands in a mission breadline, and encounters both casual and organized racism on the road. Curtis lets these arrive as ordinary features of Bud''s world rather than as lessons, which is exactly why they land.

The jazz thread is a bonus for families who want a music connection. Herman E. Calloway''s band gives students a reason to go listen to 1930s big-band recordings, and Curtis based elements of the story on his own grandfathers — one a bandleader, one a pitcher in the Negro Leagues.

At around 240 pages with a strong first-person voice, it suits grades 4-7 and is an excellent read-aloud; Bud''s narration is a pleasure out loud. It is a natural entry point to the Great Depression for younger students who are not ready for heavier treatments, and it pairs well with photographs from the era and with a study of the Great Migration north to cities like Flint and Detroit.