Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis is a realistic historical fiction novel your students will love reading. This is one of the first books I created my own novel study unit for, and it has been a staple of my classroom ever since. Here are a few ideas and activities to try with your class while reading this entertaining book.
For those who haven’t read this one, Bud is an orphan living in a foster home after his mother passed away. He has always dreamed of finding his father, and after being placed with the Amos family, he finally decides to embark on his adventure to find Herman E. Calloway.
The story covers Bud’s travels as a 10-year-old boy across the state of Michigan. His adventures along the way will have your kids excited to see what happens next. Add in the book’s ties to The Great Depression and the jazz music of that time, and you get plenty of interesting themes and discussion topics to keep your students engaged!
Character Suitcase Project
Since Bud carries his own suitcase filled with his important possessions throughout his journey, one easy project is to have your students create a “character suitcase.” They can either draw the contents or collect items from home.
I always add a size limit to character bag/box projects. Distributing paper lunch bags in advance will help you keep the clutter down. Each item they bring should have a connection to the text, and each student gets a couple minutes to tell us about their favorite item and what it means. From there, you can have them list each item and its significance on a worksheet.
Projects like this are perfect for reinforcing character analysis concepts, and they help readers empathize with the characters.
Michigan Map Activity
Bud’s journey takes him to a variety of places between Grand Rapids and Flint, Michigan. You could easily turn this into a map activity using a printable map of these areas or even create an interactive digital map. This is a great way to dig deeper into the setting of the story, and helps students visualize the impressive journey Bud experienced.
My Novel Study
If you are looking for a novel study unit to help you guide your readers through the story, my Bud, Not Buddy unit features chapter-by-chapter lesson plans and comprehension activities. All of my novel studies include the usual reader response questions and journal prompts, but I also incorporate character analysis, context clues, and story map worksheets as well.
Recently, I added a digital version of this resource that can be used with Google Classroom. Both versions have the same content, but the digital one allows students to complete the work on their Chromebooks.
See below for the full list of what’s included. Learn more about this novel study here.
- Daily Lesson Plans with Class Discussion Ideas
- Separate PDF and Digital Versions
- Context Clue Worksheets
- Character Analysis Worksheets
- Main Idea Activity
- 23 Pages of Chapter Reader Response Questions
- Story Map Worksheet
- Figurative Language Activity
- 3 Journal Prompts
- Answer Key
