Bud Not Buddy Short Summary

Bud Not Buddy is a novel for children by Christopher Paul Curtis. It got the publication in 1999 and even received an award in 2000. It is about a boy named Bud Caldwell, an orphan, only ten years of age who bounced around foster homes.

A Quick Overview of the Plot

This story begins with Caldwell living with a family named the Amos. He had been displaced severally. However, he gets to meet Todd Amos, a young bully who teasingly nicknames him ‘buddy.’ They get into a fight that results in Bud getting sent to sleep in the family shed. Here he disturbs a hornet’s nest and acquires some sting wounds. He escapes the attack and takes vengeance on Todd by using warm water to trigger Todd’s bedwetting behavior. Bud sleeps beneath the Christmas tree that night. A friend called Bugs finds him, and they run away together.

They try to board a moving train, but Bud fails to get on it. He chooses to walks to Michigan, and while heading there, he comes across Lefty Lewis, a family friend, and the man offers Bud a lift to take the kid to his father. Bud comes to learn that Calloway is the name of his father. Lefty informs bud of Calloway’s career in music. They go to meet him, and on the way, Bud gets to learn that Lefty was an activist. Lefty leaves Bud at the place where his father was supposed to perform. Bud is surprised to see that Calloway is old. He approaches Calloway to inform him that he was his father. Calloway does not buy it, and Bud starts feeling that his father doesn’t want him.

Calloway’s band is, however, very interested in Bud and thus allows him to hang around and help them. Bud begins feeling at home with this accepting crew, but Calloway is still cold towards him. Bud continues helping where they performed, and then one day earns the privilege of playing the saxophone. Sometime later, Calloway throws accusations at bud claiming that he had stolen some important stones. It comes to the light that Calloway was not actually the father of Bud but the father of Bud’s mother.

Calloway is reminded of the loss of his daughter and gets some comfort from Bud. They bond, and Bud finally feels at home with his grandfather.