SYNOPSIS

Many self-authored rules help Bud survive as a 10-year-old orphan after his single mom’s sudden death.

After escaping the foster home of an especially abusive family, he resolves to track down his dad.

Though he knows nothing about him, Bud’s convinced that a jazz musician’s fliers collected by his mom have his dad’s name and location.

After harrowing adventures and thanks to many strangers’ exceptional kindness he reaches the musician’s jazz club in Grand Rapids.

Notorious for his bad temper, Herman E. Calloway or Mr. C – an elderly jazz musician with a band, a club, a guesthouse, limos and a busy tour schedule – mockingly dismisses Bud’s parental claim.

The band members take pity on Bud, and give him shelter and musical training in return for help at the club.

Another one of Bud’s prized possessions from mom – a stone with a date written on it – reveals to both him and Mr. C that the two are indeed related.

Bud’s mom ran away from her dad’s bad temper years earlier and Mr. C never knew he had a grandson.

While Mr. C grieves the death of his daughter, Bud finds love in his new family and in music. He is home.

PERFECT AGE 10 – 15

We love

• Bud’s resolve to seek more in life is an inspiring lesson to all – as is his unwavering kindness to all around him, however harrowing his own circumstances.
• The reminder that there are good people around us and they will help a fellow soul in need.
• A helpful lesson in historical events and the privations they caused many families in 1930s’ US.

WATCH OUT FOR (Language, Big / Sensitive Topics, Outdated Concepts):

• Six-year-old Bud discovered his mom dead in their room; the circumstances of her death are unclear.
• Bud’s foster family – son and parents – are graphically cruel to him; the boy shoves a pencil up his nose and beats him; Bud is taunted with a rifle before getting locked up overnight in a dark bug-infested shack.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

• What strikes you about Bud’s rules? Do you agree with them? Do you understand them?
• Why might Bud be convinced the fliers are related to his mystery dad?
• Describe Lefty Lewis’s personality. What may have convinced him to stop and take Bud home in the middle of the night?
• How does Bud feel when he first hears the band’s music for the first time? Why does that make the plot interesting?
• What is the significance of the rocks with dates?
• Do you think Bud and Mr. C will be friends? Do you think Bud will grow up to be a great musician? Write your own sequel!