I went for a RUN like a GROWN-UP PERSON who has HEALTHY HABITS and then came home to THIS:

which I have been coveting from afar but didn’t want to ask for because I live in fear of being a greedy grabby blogger,

and then also THESE:

which are the size of my HAND.

AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

(I would like to thank my mother, Margo, and Alice for making that screech of delight possible.)

Bud, Not Buddy. Christopher Paul Curtis. 1999. Random House. 245 pages.

Here we go again. We were all standing in line waiting for breakfast when one of the caseworkers came in and tap-tap-tapped down the line. 

Some novels have me at hello. Bud, Not Buddy wasn’t like that–for me. It was a novel that had to grow on me. It was a quiet novel, in a way, that in the end proved most satisfying. Chapter by chapter I came to know Bud Caldwell better, and I started to care about him. By the end, the novel felt just right, so perfectly right. It is easy to see why this one won awards!!!

Bud, Not Buddy is set in the 1930s during the Depression. It is set in Flint, Michigan, for the most part. Though this novel will see Bud setting out on quite a journey. He’s an orphan, just eleven, in search of one simple thing: a father, a family, he’s never known, never hoped to know. So what led him to begin this journey? Well, he had to run away from his last placement in a foster home. The family had a son who was a few years older, and, this boy was cruel and mean, and his parents were stupid enough to believe their son an angel. Could he have gone back to the Home? Maybe, maybe not. But isn’t this ending worth it?!

Read Bud, Not Buddy:

• If you are looking for a historical read with plenty of heart and a good, satisfying ending

• If you are looking for books set during the Depression that are realistic but not depressing

• If you are looking to read a great Newbery winner with memorable characters

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky’s Book Reviews

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