Author Study: Christopher Paul Curtis

Most of Christopher Paul Curtis’s books unveil the times of the Great Depression and the civil rights movement while including humor, comedy, mystery, and suspense in others. His books demonstrate important themes such as: hope, survival, coming-of-age, family, and racism. 

His characters are based on his family members. His grandfather, Earl “Lefty” Lewis, a Negro Baseball League pitcher helped influence Lefty Lewis in Bud, Not Buddy. “Lefty Lewis swallowed a big hunk of sausage and said. ‘And you know what, Bud? I bet the thing he misses most is Nina’s cooking. I can’t tell you how proud I am of how far my daughter’s cooking has come. This might be hard to believe, but she used to be such a bad cook that her fried chicken was known to have turned a chicken hawk into a vegetarian.’ ” (Curtis, 2002 pg. 128) His other grandfather, Herman E. Curtis, Sr., a bandleader of Herman Curtis and the Dusky Devastators of the Depression helped influence Herman E. Callaway’s character in Bud, Not Buddy. “This was real surprising, but the thing I felt most was glad that Herman E. Callaway wasn’t my dad. Shucks, who’d want a daddy that on top of being so old and so doggone mean had such a big belly? Not me.” (Curtis, 2002 pg. 213) His most famous characters are Bud from Bud, Not Buddy and Kenny Watson from Watsons go to Birmingham-1963. These characters are the first two characters that he wrote about and were the start of his writing career. Both books are written about young boys from Flint, Michigan, but they have very different family lives. Kenny Watson grows up in a stable home with both parents, and in contrast, Bud Caldwell grows up without a father and his mother dies when he is six years old. "Six is real tough. That's how old I was when I came to live in the Home. That's how old I was when Momma died." (Curtis, 2002 pg. 6) "All of my family sat real close together on the couch under a blanket. Dad said this would generate a little heat but he didn't have to tell us this, it seemed like the cold automatically made us want to get together and huddle up." (Curits, 1997 pg. 2) These books have also been adapted into plays. 

Several of Christopher Paul Curtis's books are historical fiction, but the adventures of the Flint Future Detectives of Mr. Chickee's Messy Mission and Mr. Chickee's Funny Money, show how Christopher Paul Curtis can break away from the historical aspect of a story and bring in comedy, humor, and adventure. These chapter books are a great adventure for young readers to read and will find very entertaining.

Christopher Paul Curits has been published by Wendy Lamb Books in 2004 and 2005 for three of his books.