Book Descriptions
for Understanding Buddy by Marc Kornblatt
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Silent, withdrawn Buddy White, a new kid in Sam Keeperman’s school, is an easy target for the other kids’ teasing. But Sam won’t join in. He knows Buddy’s mom died over the summer in a car accident. Buddy’s mother worked for his family as a cleaning woman. Sam can’t imagine what it would be like to lose his mom, and he is not sure what to say to Buddy. But his first awkward gestures toward Buddy slowly blossom into friendship. At the same time, Sam’s relationship with his own best friend — who doesn’t like Buddy — is jeopardized. This novel set in Madison features a contemporary Jewish American child (and, in Buddy, a contemporary child whose family members are Jehovah’s Witnesses) whose questions about death, life, religion, and the meaning of friendship are explored with honesty and sensitivity. (Ages 9–12)
CCBC Choices 2002 . © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2002. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
When a new classmate stops speaking because of the sudden death of his mother, fifth grader Sam tries to befriend him and risks destroying his relationship with his best friend Alex.
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.