Buddy

Product Information

Write a letter from Buddy to mum about activities recently. Explain you are worried about dad and Mr King. However, upon arrival to 56 Croxley street, Buddy finds Mr. King leaving Croxley Street before the police have arrived. His plan has not worked. This is a story with sad, funny and bits that really make you think about what is going on. A funny moment for me is when buddy and his dad terry are in the country on terry’s moped and they are messing around. A sad moment in the book for me is when buddy’s mum leaves. What made it so sad was because I know how it feels to not have your mum there all the time especially when you need her the most. Also there are bits that really made me think, like when Terry was breaking into places, I was thinking why he is actually doing this instead of getting a proper job.

Discussion of key themes -right and wrong, marginalisation, poverty, parenting, prejudice, friendship, education, superstition, bullying

EYFS / KS1 English Teaching Resources

Pupils to be in pairs. One needs to be the interviewer and the other Buddy. Think up questions together and responses. One of the messages in the book is to do with bullying. There are some examples of bullying in the story. One example of bullying is what happens to Buddy at school. Buddy’s teacher Me. Normington always has some sort of nasty thing to say to Buddy. Pupils will be expected to contribute to the reading of "Buddy." (Teacher, volunteers and jigsaw activities.)

To extract meaning beyond the literal, explaining how the choice of language and style affects implied and explicit meanings Buddy started the sixth form at school after taking his GCSEs in the fourth year. In the common room he met fraternal twins Mike and Jason who also played guitar then he practised with them in the school hall. They searched for a drummer and found an eighteen-year-old milkman called Glenn who joined them and they called the band the Reflections. The band mainly played at youth clubs and Buddy continued playing with the Hi-Tone Four without telling his parents hoping their gigs would not clash. One evening Buddy went with his mother to a meal with her boss Adrian Mandell who she was seeing a lot of. At one of the Hi-Tones' gigs Terry met a woman about fifteen years younger called Dawn who he saw lot of after that but Buddy thought negatively about her as he did with Adrian. When the clash between gigs finally happened Buddy had to tell his father about the Reflections and went there instead. Terry came to the Reflections' gig and met with them afterwards and they agreed to let him be their manager. Terry booked them a session at a recording studio where they made tapes to send to clubs to get bookings. Terry then booked them a tour over the Easter holiday within a hundred miles of their town so Terry and Glenn could go to work and changed the name of the band to Buddy and the Bosses. When Terry was going over the plans for the tour Buddy asked if he loved Dawn and he said that he liked her a lot but did not love her. When the band started performing at local youth clubs again there were two girls who went to the gigs and one of them asked Buddy out on a date. Buddy went with Elaine to the cinema where they kissed. After seven dates Elaine did not turn up and at the next gig she said it was because she did not want to get serious then he dumped her. Terry arranged to have a tour for half term in London and some other Southern cities, a recording session at a studio and a single in the local record shops. When Buddy went to tell his mother the news she said that her boss had been offered a job in London and wanted Carol to come with him. She asked Buddy what he thought but he left it entirely with her. Buddy thought he was going mad with the uncertainty of his future and wrote the song Brain Train about it. He also wrote Nothing Serious about Elaine. Buddy has all the elements of a great YA story. The hero is confused due to his parents separating. He has problems at school due to his social class. He is conscious of his father's working class habits and in general has problems in connecting with him, and is developing a love for music. In this aspect the book works. Also Hinton does not pander to his audience so the ending is not wishy washy, just like the last book I read, Half Blood Blues. Hinton also uses records as a metaphor for life and Hinton does it in a poignant way. There are even hints of same sex relationships, a bi racial friendships; something I think was quite daring during Thatcher's Britain at the time (correct me if I am wrong)

KS2 English Teaching Resources

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