John Tobin’s sixth-grade class at Crispell recently read Bud, Not Buddy, the story of a 10-year-old orphaned boy in Depression-era Michigan and his search to find his family.

To better understand the time period before reading the book, the students had some work to do. They investigated the causes of the Great Depression, life during that time, the Dust Bowl, riding the rails, Hoovervilles and even the popular music of the time. They created PowerPoint presentations and then shared their research with their classmates.

When they got to reading “Bud, No Buddy,” they saw what they had learned about the harshness of the 1930s. Bud was placed with a new foster family, was teased horribly by the son and went on the run. He meets some pretty interesting characters on his journey to Grand Rapids, in his quest to find his family.

Bud, Not Buddy was the first book to receive both the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children’s literature and the Coretta Scott King Award, which is given to outstanding African-American authors.