What an Anticipation Guide Actually Does
An anticipation guide is a short list of statements tied to the themes, topics, or ideas in a text. Students mark whether they agree or disagree before they start reading. Then they revisit those same statements after reading to see if their opinions shifted. It takes five minutes to set up and usually gets kids talking in a way that a straight prompt like "discuss the themes" never does. The one I use most often with Bud, Not Buddy has about eight to ten statements. They cover the Great Depression, family structures, adult authority, and the idea of home. Not every statement needs to map directly to a plot point. The best ones tap into something a fourteen-year-old already has a strong feeling about, which means the reading becomes a chance to prove themselves right or wrong.
Anticipation Guide For Bud Not Buddy
Here is a version I have used across multiple cohorts. Print it, read it aloud, and let them mark A for agree, D for disagree, or U for uncertain. Do not collect it as a grade at this stage. The point is the prediction, not the performance. Statements: 1. A parent is the only person who can truly be called family.
2. During hard economic times, children are expected to grow up faster. 3. Adults usually know what is best for young people. 4. Running away is always a sign of poor judgment.
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5. Music can bring strangers together. 6. Being alone is the same as being lonely. 7. Rules exist mostly to protect people.
8. A home is defined by where you sleep, not by who is there. 9. Trust should be earned before it is given. 10. The past does not affect the choices you make today.
How to Run It Without Wasting Class Time
I start with a two-minute explanation, have students mark the sheet individually, then put them into pairs for three minutes of comparison. After that, I do a quick whole-class share where I read each statement and ask for a show of hands. I do not debate the answers at this point. I just note which ones split the room and which ones everyone agrees on. That creates actual stakes for reading. Midway through the novel, I hand the same sheet back. This time I ask them to change any answers that need changing and write a one-sentence reason tied to a specific scene. The shift from vague opinion to text-supported reasoning is where the learning actually lives. Students who refuse to cite evidence at this stage are usually just repeating what they said the first time, and that tells me they are skimming instead of tracking. I usually spend about twelve to fifteen minutes total across two lessons. That is enough to cover the activity without eating into the reading time. If I rush it in under five minutes, the follow-up discussion after reading becomes shallow because students did not invest in the first round.
The Edge Case I Keep Running Into
The problem I hit most often is the uncertain category. About a third of students will mark U on almost every statement, either because they do not want to pick a side or because they assume the teacher has a right answer in mind. When that happens, the activity falls apart on the second pass because they have nothing to revise. My workaround is simple and annoying to do but effective. I make U an invalid response on the first round unless they circle a specific reason in one sentence. That forces a stance. I also tell them outright that I will not accept "I don't know" as a written reason. I have seen this cut the uncertain responses by roughly two-thirds in one cycle. Some kids still push back, but they quickly learn that the grade or participation point depends on having a position, not on having the right one. Another friction point appears with statement four about running away. Several students interpret it as an absolute moral claim and refuse to engage with nuance. I handle that by adding a follow-up question on the second pass: "Did the story support, complicate, or contradict your original answer?" That single prompt keeps the conversation from collapsing into a debate about real-world activism versus fictional choices.
Common Mistakes That Make This Activity Useless
Creating statements that are too tied to plot details is the biggest error. If a statement says something like "Bud carries a flyer in his pocket," you are testing reading memory, not theme engagement. The statements need to survive without the book. That is how you know they are working correctly. The second mistake is treating the first round as a quiz. If you collect it, grade it, or correct it before reading begins, students stop treating the second round as meaningful reflection. They just try to guess what the teacher wanted. The whole point breaks. I do not even look at the first-round sheets myself unless I need to check for completion. I go straight to the second-pass revisions and the supporting evidence. A third issue shows up when the list is too long. Ten statements is already the upper limit for a single session. Beyond that, students zone out, and the after-reading revision becomes perfunctory. I have seen this turn a solid twelve-minute activity into a twenty-five-minute slog with no payoff.
Why This Works Better Than a Standard Pre-Reading Question List
Traditional pre-reading questions ask students to predict content or define vocabulary. That activates memory, not investment. An anticipation guide forces a personal stance on something debatable. When students have already committed to a position, they read with a mild competitive urge to confirm or correct it. That changes how closely they pay attention to character decisions and thematic moments. In my experience, the difference shows up in discussion quality. Classes that do a proper anticipation guide tend to reference specific moments when talking about themes like family and trust. Classes that skip it usually fall back on general impressions or memorized plot summary. The gap is noticeable within the first five days of reading.
How to Extend It Without Making It a Chore
After the second pass, I sometimes ask students to write one new statement that the book made them consider. This tends to produce surprisingly sharp questions, like whether loving someone requires knowing who they are. I collect those and use them as discussion prompts for the final week. It keeps the activity from feeling like a closed loop and gives students ownership over the conversation. For stronger readers, I add a requirement to find one quote per revised statement. That pushes them toward textual evidence without turning the task into an essay. Weaker readers benefit more from the partner discussion before the whole-class share, so I adjust the structure rather than raising the cognitive demand arbitrarily.
When This Approach Fails Completely
It fails when the class has already read the book or watched the film before starting. The predictions become irrelevant because the answers are already known. It also breaks down in classes where students treat every opinion as equally valid and refuse to engage with counter-evidence. In those situations, the second pass turns into a shouting match or a silence depending on the group dynamic. I have had to drop the activity in those cases and switch to a direct thematic mapping exercise instead. It is less engaging but more controllable. Another limitation is time pressure. If you are behind on pacing and need to finish the novel in under a week, this activity eats into reading time that students need for comprehension. I have cut it down to a single round with no revision when necessary, but the depth drops noticeably. You lose the reflection piece, which is the whole point.
Where to Find Printable Versions
There is no single official anticipation guide for Bud, Not Buddy since it is a teaching tool rather than a published document. Most teachers adapt their own lists based on the statements above. You can copy the list directly, print it on a single page, and adjust the wording to fit your class level. Several education sites host editable templates if you want a formatted version, but the content matters more than the layout. If you are looking for a ready-made packet, search for Bud Not Buddy anticipation guide PDF and filter by teacher-reviewed resources. Some of those include answer keys that try to map statements to chapters. Those answer keys are usually unnecessary and sometimes misleading because the book supports multiple interpretations. I prefer to keep the statements open-ended and focus on the evidence students pull from the text rather than matching them to a fixed key.
