Paulo Alfaro
Bud, not Buddy
By: Christopher Paul Curtis
This book, written in the first person point of view, is very funny and exciting, but at the same time very sad. Bud is a 10-year-old boy living in an orphanage in the 1930’s and he has nowhere to go. He just has one personal belonging: His suitcase his mother gave him full of interesting stuff right after she died, when he was a little boy. Inside the suitcase there are very important things for Bud. Things like his blanket, a photo of his mom, a flyer that he is not sure what it is, a pocket knife, and colorful rocks. Bud does not trust anybody and therefore he doesn’t give the suitcase to anyone. One day he took a look at the flyer in his suitcase and it had a name, and an address. From that day on he goes in search of him, thinking it’s his dad. The place he is looking for: Grand Rapids. (The city next to his town.) It will be a dangerous trip. Being a black kid and walking in the streets alone in the 1930’s isn’t very safe due to racism. He travels at night when no one can see him. He meets this very nice guy who is heading to Grand Rapids and is able to take him. He is taken to the exact same place the flyer says. And then he finally meets the mystery man: Herman E. Calloway. Is he his dad? Or is he a random person? Find out!
As I mention in the beginning, this book is funny. The main reason is because of Bud’s character. He had this very funny book he wrote that is all about lying in order to survive certain situations, and other rules he made up according to some strange beliefs he had. He hates to be called Buddy because he knows his name is Bud and his mom specifically warned him to not let anyone call him Buddy because it is a dog’s name. That’s why the book is called Bud, not Buddy; he succeeds because he will always fight for dignity. But it is also a sad story because he is an orphan, his mother died when he was very young, his dad left him when he was just a baby, he is very poor, he barely eats, and many other reasons.
I liked this book because it never got boring and it remained glued to my hands. Bud, not Buddy is one of those stories where the unexpected happens. When you are extremely sure something is going to occur, another thing happens. The protagonist and narrator, Bud, makes an incredible journey to another city alone and reaches his goal. This showed me that when you are searching for something important, not to let go, and never stop.
