Bud, Not Buddy
Christopher Paul Curtis
Language: English
Pages: 288
ISBN: 0553494104
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
The Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award-winning classic about a boy who decides to hit the road to find his father—from Christopher Paul Curtis, author of The Watsons Go To Birmingham—1963, a Newbery and Coretta Scott King Honoree.
It’s 1936, in Flint Michigan. Times may be hard, and ten-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but Bud’s got a few things going for him:
1. He has his own suitcase full of special things.
2. He’s the author of Bud Caldwell’s Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself.
3. His momma never told him who his father was, but she left a clue: flyers advertising Herman E. Calloway and his famous band, the Dusky Devastators of the Depression!!!!!!
Bud’s got an idea that those flyers will lead him to his father. Once he decides to hit the road to find this mystery man, nothing can stop him—not hunger, not fear, not vampires, not even Herman E. Calloway himself.
AN ALA BEST BOOK FOR YOUNG ADULTS
AN ALA NOTABLE CHILDREN'S BOOK
AN IRA CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD WINNER
NAMED TO 14 STATE AWARD LISTS
“The book is a gem, of value to all ages, not just the young people to whom it is aimed.” —The Christian Science Monitor
“Will keep readers engrossed from first page to last.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred
“Curtis writes with a razor-sharp intelligence that grabs the reader by the heart and never lets go. . . . This highly recommended title [is] at the top of the list of books to be read again and again.” —Voice of Youth Advocates, Starred
From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Ring of Water (Young Samurai, Book 5)
The Ring of Wind (Young Samurai, Book 7)
Warmth and care to open up. It’s a little fist of love waiting to unfold and be seen by the world. And that’s you.” I’d say, “Yes, Momma.” I know she didn’t mean anything by naming me after a flower, but it’s sure not something I tell anybody about. Another thing she’d tell me was, “Don’t you worry, Bud, as soon as you get to be a young man I have a lot of things I’ll explain to you.” That didn’t make me calm at all, that was Bud Caldwell’s Rules and Things to Have a Funner Life and Make a.
Hill? My goodness, hadn’t you heard?” Uh-oh! That’s Number 16 of Bud Caldwell’s Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself, that’s one of the worst ones. RULES AND THINGS NUMBER 16 If a Grown-up Ever Starts a Sentence by Saying “Haven’t You Heard,” Get Ready, ’Cause What’s About to Come Out of Their Mouth Is Gonna Drop You Headfirst into a Boiling Tragedy. It seems like the answer to “Haven’t you heard” always has something to do with someone.
Poked, I was the one who was still having trouble catching my breath. I asked, “How come you aren’t back at the Home?” But before he had a chance to answer I knew. “You’re on the lam.” Bugs said, “Yup, I’m going back to riding the rails. When I heard about you beating that kid up so bad that you had to take off I figured it was time for me to get going too. I thought you might be hanging around the library so I come down to see if you wanted to go with me.” “Where you heading?” “There’s.
Having trouble breathing ’cause every time he sucked in a bunch of air he made a sound like “Mu-u-u-u-h . . .” and every time he blew air out he made a sound like, “H-u-u-u-h . . .” I didn’t know what to do. I could tell Mr. C. didn’t know I was in the room with him so I could probably just backward tiptoe and get out of there without anything happening. I rose up on my toes, took two baby steps back and stopped. Shucks, I’d come up here to show Miss Thomas and Mr. Jimmy what my momma looked.
Our apartment real quick, picking things up and putting them back in the exact same spot. “Filth!” she’d say about the hat. “Absolute filth! Why, the thing was positively alive with germs! Who knows what type of people had worn it?” I’d say, “I don’t know, Momma.” She’d say, “Who knows how many years it had been worn by who knows how many sweaty little heads?” I’d say, “I don’t know, Momma.” She’d say, “The entire band on the inside was black and I’m sure it was crawling with ringworm, lice.