Buddy is a teenage
boy whose
mother leaves his aging teddy boy father and him. The two of them explore their awkward relationship and move towards a greater understanding of each other, despite both blaming themselves for the mother's departure. The book
explores a range of issues through the circumstances that Buddy and his friends find themselves in. These have the effect of drawing the reader into the story and sympathizing with their plight. These include racism and bullying as a
result of perceived image, Buddy's
poverty at the time of his
life when he is growing fast and he and his contemporaries are increasingly image-concious.
The poverty that Buddy and his father find themselves living in leads to Buddy's father becoming embroiled on the edges of the criminal underworld. Buddy's feelings as he realises this and the actions he takes to stop his father result in him exploring a creepy old house - the lair of the Beast.
Buddy is a brilliantly written book that captivated from the opening sentence. As a teacher of some years experience, I have seen children - hardened non-readers - unable to put the book down and asking to go to the library to read it for themselves. It is the first in a trilogy which explores Buddy's life further but this, as the original, is undoubtedly the best.
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