Read the book aloud in the classroom or with a group of readers. By reading the book out loud, it allows the group to form a bond as they hear the book read in a uniform way. You will find it interesting how differently people will view the story and the wide array of feelings they will have.
Discuss the basic premise of the book so everyone is starting off on the same page and has followed the same storyline.
Bud is a 10-year-old boy living in an orphanage in Flint, Michigan. With no family of his own, he sets off on a journey to Grand Rapids, Michigan with no resources to his name so he can find himself a real family (his father) and real love.
Make a list of Bud's rules to "have a funner life and make a better liar out of yourself." Have the readers either make a list together as a group or make their own individual lists of rules that they live by. Compare the different ideas of the class members or group to Bud's philosophy and discuss.
Discuss how Bud's rules and his journey might be different in the current year than they were in the 1930s, as an African-American boy in the height of the Great Depression.
Analyze the title and the different meanings it could have. Is it because Bud no longer wants to be called Buddy because he's growing up? Is there any evidence within the story to point to the meaning of the title?