Buddy (novel)
Encyclopedia
Buddy is written by Nigel Hinton
Nigel Hinton
Nigel Hinton is an English novelist.-Personal life and family:Nigel Hinton was born in London in 1941, and attended Dulwich College. He enjoys swimming, walking and films, and loves listening to music, especially blues, rock and roll from the 1950s, and the work of Bob Dylan...

.
The main characters are Buddy Clark, his mother, Carol Clark and Terry Clark, Buddy's father.
The story deals with issues such as racism, thieving and child neglect
Child neglect
Child neglect is defined as:# "the failure of a person responsible for a child’s care and upbringing to safeguard the child’s emotional and physical health and general well-being"...

.....

The book was made into a TV series
Buddy (TV series)
Buddy was a BBC schools drama, based on the novel of the same name by Nigel Hinton. It was shown as part of the social studies strand....

 in 1986.

The book was followed by two sequels, Buddy's Song (1987) which became a film
Buddy's Song (film)
Buddy's Song is a 1991 film starring Chesney Hawkes, Roger Daltrey, Sharon Duce and Michael Elphick, based on the novel of the same name by Nigel Hinton....

 in 1990 and Buddy's Blues (1995).

Plot

Buddy is a young boy who is often picked on for being poor. He lives with his mum and dad. It all starts when Buddy wants some money for a school trip, he was unable to go on previous school trips because he didn't have the money. When his mum tells him she doesn't have any money to give him, Buddy ends up taking the money from his mum's purse. At the end of the day, his mum finds the money missing and asks Buddy where he put the money, after revealing that he did take the money, his mum said "Like father, like son", as his dad was previously sent to prison for breaking and entering. Before leaving she adds "thief", and leaves Buddy crying. The next day Buddy finds out his mum has left. Four months later, with his mum still missing, he is often called dustman at school often by his teacher and his classmates due to the state of his clothes.

In fact, 'The Beast' is just a man with learning difficulties named Ralph James Campbell. Meanwhile, Buddy finds out that his dad has a job and works a night shift, but he refuses to tell Buddy what it is. Buddy feels suspicious. After Buddy has a parents consultation evening with his dad coming in a 'teddy boy' outfit and Buddy feeling embarrassed, his dad goes to work and Buddy is left in the house on his own. When he looks out the window, he thinks the Beast is standing outside the house. He later hears the door bell ring and he finds it is his mum. She takes him for a snack at the snack bar at the Bus station and later gives him the address to the flat she shared with a friend from work and says that he can see her anytime he wants.

After his dad gets his motorbike back, a Harley Davidson also known as the 'arley, he takes Buddy for a ride out, he then has a tournament with Buddy on the pinball machine before going to work. Later on in the night, Buddy wakes to find his dad in the bathroom with his hands bleeding. He claims he fell of his Harley however Buddy doesn't believe him. Buddy finds a briefcase behind the door containing jewellery and believes that his dad has stolen it. The next day he convinces his dad to admit that he had been stealing and Buddy starts crying, he asks his dad to stop and his dad tells him he'll try. He also asks him to ring a man about the jewellery who he says is called Mr King. When Mr King comes over to Buddy's house to discuss something with his dad, he hears his dad telling Mr King that he doesn't want a job of stealing anymore however Mr King takes no notice and tells him he will give him till Friday for his hands to get better before they have a meeting at 56 Croxley Street. Buddy decides enough is enough and forms a plan to get Mr King arrested, it involves keeping his dad away from 56 Croxley Street long enough for Mr King to enter 56 (he does this by convincing his mum to go and see his dad). Then, Charmian has to telephone the police and tell them someone is breaking in to 56 and wait for Mr King to get arrested.

However, Buddy finds Mr King leaves Croxley Street before the police arrive. Later, his dad arrives on his bike leaving Buddy to find out him and his mum didn't work out. Buddy tells his dad he called the police however Buddy's dad enters 56 to check on the owner of the House (the Beast) who Buddy forgot about, shortly after that the police arrive and go in the house and later come out with Buddy's dad, the briefcase of jewels, and the Beast (known as Ralph). They both enter the car calmly and Ralph has his head in his hands, Buddy isn't sure as he sees his dad put his arm round Ralph. After spending two nights at Julius and Charmian's house Buddy decides to escape to the country to avoid being put in care, he gets supplies from his house including a sleeping bag, and then goes to the bus station and gets on a bus (although originally planning to go to West Axle he then gets off the bus early before it gets dark). By the time he gets off the bus it's dark, he tries to head to a barn but gets stopped by two aggressive dogs. In the end he shelters in the wooden bus stop in his sleeping bag.

The next morning, which happens to be his fourteenth birthday, he heads to shelter in 56 Croxley Street and succeeds until the Beast returns after Buddy's dad told the police the truth that he hadn't been in on it. Later, he goes to his mum's friend's house to find he is the main headline in the paper and that he is said to be missing. His mum's friend tells Buddy that his mum and dad are looking for him at his house, he goes there to find them both (his dad was bailed out by his mum). Six months later, Buddy's dad is due on trial, he decides to plead guilty and gets 18 months (a year and a half). He also asks Buddy and his mum to play a Buddy Holly song everyday (The song turns out to be Everyday by Buddy Holly). The lyrics indicate that his dad won't be long and that he still loves them in the end.

Other information

Nigel Hinton had great difficulty trying to start to write Buddy. The story had changed a lot by the time Nigel finished writing it. Buddy was originally nine years old, his name was Stuart and he thought his cousin was a spy.
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