Genre: Historical Fiction
Author: Christopher Paul Curtis
Awards: Newbery (2000)
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award (2001)
Age Group: 9 to 12-year-olds
Teacher's Evaluation: As a teacher, I would use this in a fifth-grade classroom. I think this book is authentic to the main character's age. The book could be used to solidify the background knowledge of the Great Depression for students. I think it would be perfect for a whole class reading book or an in-class library book.
Summary: This book takes place during the Great Depression. The story is about a young boy named Bud. Bud's mother passed away four years ago when Bud was six years old. The book starts with Bud in an orphanage - Bud has no family alive and has never met his father. The reader learns quickly that Bud is a very tough person for his age. Bud is put into a foster home and the family's son decides to mess with Bud. Bud defends himself and the two boys fight, but the parents believe their son who blames everything on Bud. The family throws Bud into a shed and locks him in there to sleep in so they can return him to the orphanage the next day. Bud escapes from the shed and goes out on the lam. Bud cannot return to the orphanage so he decides to go to the library. Bud reunites with another boy who has run away from the orphanage and the two decide to stick together. The boys' plans are to find a train to hop on and find their way to California to make money picking fruit. The two boys make it to the train-hopping area but when it is time to hop on, Bud cannot make it on the train. Bud is now alone, again, with nowhere to go. Bud begins to think about the flyer of the musician in his briefcase full of his mother's items. The musician on the paper is a man with a similar last name to Bud, Bud starts to think maybe this man is his father and that is why his mother would keep and look at the flyers. Bud decides to take a trip to a nearby town that is on the flyers of the man. Walking in the middle of the night, a car stops and a man asks Bud where he is from in exchange for food. Bud is starving so he agrees to answer the man for food, but instead of telling the man the truth he lies and tells him the musician is his father and he lives with him. The man named Mr. Lewis sends the musician a telegram and takes Bud on a quick trip before driving him to the musician. When Bud arrives at the place where the musician is practicing with his band, Bud says that he is indeed his father. Everyone is shocked by this and the musician is very mean to Bud. The bandmates take in Bud and over the course of a few days trying to figure out the truth. It isn't until the end of the book and almost a week of living with the musician and his bandmate that Bud finds out the truth. By showing the musician the rocks his mother kept, the musician and his bandmates realize that Bud isn't the musician's son but his grandson.
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