Beyond the Book: Background information when reading Bucking The Sarge

Beyond the Book

This article relates to Bucking The Sarge

Christopher Paul Curtis was born and brought up in Flint, and worked on the assembly line in the city for 13 years until his first book, The Watsons Go To Birmingham-1963, was published when he was 40 years old.  He took a year off from work to write to write it sitting in the children's room of the Windsor Public Library writing in long hand. His son Steven typed his father's drafts into their computer and served as first reader.

His second novel, Bud, Not Buddy, was the first book ever to receive both the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Author Award.

He describes himself as a great reader but as a youth could not find books "that were about me".  When asked why he writes he says, "I write because I love to. I'm very, very fortunate to have found something that I love doing that also earns my living. But to be honest, I'd write even if I weren't being paid to (Don't let my publisher know!) Writing has always been a sanctuary or a refuge for me, any time I'm stressed or anxious or worried I find that a couple of hours expressing myself by writing always seems to have a calming effect on me. I'm sure there's some philosophy that says one of the best ways to deal with any of your problems is to take a deep breath and step away from them for a while, writing does this for me."

He lives with his wife, Kaysandra and their two children, Steven and Cydney.  More about Christopher Paul Curtis at BookBrowse.

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This article relates to Bucking The Sarge. It first ran in the May 22, 2006 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.