Bud, Not BuddyBy: Christopher Curtis

SETTING (Where and when did your story take place?)

Flint, Michigan Population =124, 943 4th largest city in Michigan Major Industries: Trading/Trapping

           - Lumber           - Carriages           - Automobiles

The racial makeup of the city is African American 53.27%  White41.39%  Native American0.64%  Asian0.44%  Pacific Islander0.02%   Other races1.11%  From two or more races.3.14% Hispanic or Latino2.99%

What major U.S. Event Occurred During Bud, Not Buddy?

The Great Depression

Worst Economic Crisis in American history. Caused by the Stock market Crash of 1929. Hunger, unemployment, poor living

conditions

VOCABULARY

HOOVERVILLE– Towns that built up

during the Great Depression.

– Named After President Herbert Hoover

– Found in unpleasant neighborhoods

– Compare to ghettos and projects

CHARACTERS(Who was your story

about?)

Bud Who is bud? What is his purpose in the story? Can you name some other important

characters?

PLOT ( What happened in the story?)

Beginning

Middle

End

THEME ( What was the message or main idea of your story?)

FRIENSHIP

DISCOVERY

JOURNEY

HARDSHIP

About the Author

ABOUT THE AUTHORBorn in Flint, Michigan, Christopher Paul Curtis spent his first 13 years after high school on the assembly line of Flint’s historic Fisher Body Plant #1. His job entailed hanging car doors, and it left him with an aversion to getting into and out of large automobiles—particularly big Buicks.

Curtis’s writing—and his dedication to it—has been greatly influenced by his family members, particularly his wife, Kaysandra. With grandfathers like Earl “Lefty” Lewis, a Negro Baseball League pitcher, and 1930s bandleader Herman E. Curtis, Sr., of Herman Curtis and the Dusky Devastators of the Depression, it is easy to see why Christopher Paul Curtis was destined to become an entertainer.

Christopher Paul Curtis made an outstanding debut in children’s literature with The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963. His second novel, Bud, Not Buddy, is the first book ever to receive both the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Author Award.

HONORS

Newberry Medal –– named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. – It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children,

a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

Coretta Scott King Award – – Given to African American authors and illustrator for outstanding

inspirational and educational contributions,– promote understanding and appreciation of the culture of all peoples and

their contribution to the realization of the American dream.– Honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.