Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Christopher Paul Curtis based the characters in his story on his awesome grandfathers, Herman E. Curtis and Earl "Lefty" Lewis. Earl was called Lefty not because he was a gangster, like Bud thought, but because he was actually a Negro Baseball League pitcher (Source).
Right out of high school, Curtis got a job putting cars together (actually hanging doors on cars) and did that job for thirteen years (Source).
Bud, Not Buddy was turned into a play with jazz music in the background by Reginald Andre Jackson (Source).