# Bud, Not Buddy

**Author:** Christopher Paul Curtis
**Lexile:** 950L
**Grade range:** Grades 4–7
**Age range:** 9–13
**First published:** 1999
**Page count:** 256
**Genre:** Historical Fiction
**ISBN-13:** `9780553494105`
**ISBN-10:** `0553494104`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/bud-not-buddy
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

Ten-year-old Bud Caldwell, orphaned during the Great Depression, runs away from his foster home in Flint, Michigan to find the man he believes is his father. Winner of the 2000 Newbery Medal AND the Coretta Scott King Award — the only book ever to win both in the same year. Commonly assigned in 4th-7th grade Depression-era units.

## Themes

- family
- identity
- perseverance
- depression era
- race

## Content notes

- child abuse
- orphan trauma

Common Sense Media age recommendation: 9+

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