Bud, Not Buddy is a 1999 children’s realistic historical novel by American author Christopher Paul Curtis. Ten-year-old protagonist Bud Caldwell is an orphan living in Flint, Michigan in 1936. Four years after the death of his mother and after a series of abusive and neglectful foster homes, Bud sets out to find his father, whom he believes is the locally famous jazz musician Herman E. Calloway of Grand Rapids. Bud encounters a host of characters and challenges indicative of the struggles of the Great Depression era on his journey. Winner of the 2000 Newbery Medal, Bud, Not Buddy explores themes of race, poverty, optimism, and compassion. It was also adapted for the stage, winning a Distinguished Play Award from The American Alliance for Theatre and Education in 2010. Christopher Paul Curtis was awarded the 2000 Coretta Scott King Award as an outstanding African American author. This guide refers to the 2002 Scholastic paperback edition.

Plot Summary

The novel opens in the Home, Bud’s orphanage in Flint, Michigan in 1936. A case worker tells Bud he will go to foster care again, this time with the Amos family. Because Bud’s first two foster experiences were negative, he dreads going to the Amoses; despite his own worry, he tries to cheer a younger orphan, Jerry, who is also going to foster care. At the Amoses, Todd Amos, who is 12 and much larger than Bud, shoves a pencil up Bud’s nose as Bud sleeps, inciting a fight between the two. When Mr. and Mrs. Amos intervene, Todd says that Bud started the conflict. Mrs. Amos punishes Bud by sending him to spend the night in the shed, where he suffers hornet stings. He cuts his fingers while escaping. Bud gets revenge by prompting Todd to wet the bed in his sleep.

Bud runs away, determined to stay out of the Home and foster care. Late at night, he tries to get into the public library, but the windows are barred. He sleeps outside instead, first checking on the few possessions he carries in his suitcase, including a photo of his mother as a child, a bag of small rocks labeled with dates and locations that his mother kept, and flyers advertising a jazz musician named Herman E. Calloway. In the morning, Bud is late for the free breakfast at the mission, but he gets in with the help of a family who pretend he is their son. Back at the library, Bud learns that Miss Hill, a librarian he thought might help him, has married and moved away. Bud’s friend Bugs finds him asleep outside that night and invites him to hop a train west for migrant work. Bud and Bugs go to Flint’s Hooverville, a Depression-era shantytown, where he sees many homeless and unemployed folks living in pieced-together shacks. A girl his age, Deza Malone, warns that hopping a train will not be easy. Before dawn, Bud tries to climb onto the accelerating train with Bugs but doesn’t make it. He returns to the library with the new idea to walk to Grand Rapids, where Herman E. Calloway is well-known. Bud thinks that the flyers and a memory of his mother’s reaction Mr. Calloway visit to Flint years ago are enough proof that Mr. Calloway is his father.

On the walk to Grand Rapids, Mr. Lefty Lewis convinces Bud to accept his help. Bud tells Mr. Lewis he ran away from Grand Rapids, and after a night and a good breakfast at Mr. Lewis’s daughter’s house, Mr. Lewis drives Bud to the Log Cabin, Mr. Calloway’s club in Grand Rapids. Bud is surprised to see that Herman E. Calloway is quite old. When he tells Mr. Calloway he is his son, Mr. Calloway denies it. The band members welcome Bud and take him for dinner at the Sweet Pea restaurant. Miss Thomas, the band’s singer, and Steady Eddie, the saxophone player, are especially kind to Bud. Miss Thomas invites Bud to stay at Mr. Calloway’s house where they all live until they can sort out what to do with Bud. Bud helps with chores and attends the band’s performances, loving his new situation despite Mr. Calloway’s continued insistence that Bud is not his son. After an out-of-town performance, Bud returns to the Log Cabin with Mr. Calloway. Mr. Calloway takes a small rock from the venue lot and writes the location and date on it. Bud sees other rocks labeled similarly in the car. He shows Mr. Calloway his own labeled rocks, which leads to the revelation of Bud’s mother’s name; everyone realizes that Bud’s deceased mother is Mr. Calloway’s missing daughter Angela Janet, who ran away eleven years earlier.

Miss Thomas explains that Mr. Calloway will need time and Bud’s patience to deal with the confirmed loss of his daughter. The band members present Bud with a small alto saxophone, signifying his acceptance into their makeshift family. Bud unpacks his possessions in the room that belonged to his mother, finally home.