Students may want to read Curtis's first novel The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963. The audiobook of Bud, Not Buddy, complete with instrumental music, is recommended as a supplement to the written version. For older students, John Steinbeck's classic, The Grapes of Wrath, is a must for understanding the effects of the Depression on Oklahoma farmers. For younger students, Children of the Dustbowl: The True Story of Weedpatch School, by Jerry Stanley documents the lives of migrant children in California in the 1930s. Out of the Dust, by Karen Hesse, is the poignant story, in prose poem form, of a family's desperate circumstances as their farm blows steadily away. A different story of the era is Grandpa Jake and the Good Christmas, by James Aldridge. It is the tale of a young girl who makes some surprising discoveries about her grandfather.

For those who wish to explore the child's search for home in young adult fiction, Karen Cushman's The Midwife's Apprentice, Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli, and Sharon Creech's Walk Two Moons are excellent choices. The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson, also deals with a homeless child, but Gilly's experience with her latest foster home is far different from Bud's.

Students interested in the music of the 1930s and the musicians who made it their life's work will enjoy If Only I Had A Horn: Young Louis Armstrong, an illustrated biography of the jazz musician by Roxanne Orgill. Kathleen Krull's Lives of the Musicians: Good Times, Bad Times, and What the Neighbors Thought, highlights Scott Joplin, Woody Guthrie, and George Gershwin, all contributors to popular music of the 1930s. Those students interested in researching the unionization of the pullman porters will want to read A Long Hard Journey: The Story of the Pullman Porter, by Patricia and Frederick McKissack.

Beck, M.D. "An Interview with Newbery Award Winner, Christopher Paul Curtis." Riverbank Review (winter 1999-2000): 12-15. Christopher Paul Curtis answers questions about his young adult novels and his life as an author.

Lamb, W. "Christopher Paul Curtis." Horn Book Magazine (July 2000): 397. Editor for Delacorte Press, Wendy Lamb, tells how she came to publish Curtis's two young adult novels. She details incidents in his life and his struggle to become an author. Intimate and friendly, she gives us glimpses of the man behind the story; his sense of humor and unassuming ways. She says, "I am fervently glad this man has found the right work."

Lesesne, Teri. "Writing the Stories Brewing inside of Us: An Interview with Christopher Paul Curtis." Teacher Librarian (March 1999): 54. The author discusses his life, writings, and experiences talking with students who read his books.

Sutton, Roger. Review of Bud, Not Buddy. Horn Book Magazine (November 1999): 737. A brief, favorable review of Curtis's novel.

Weich, David. "Christopher Paul Curtis Goes to Powell's." Powell's Books News http://www.powells.com. April 2001. An extensive interview in which the author talks about his life as an auto worker and as an author.