Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Youthful, Fearful, Excited
Youthful: Bud-Not-Buddy the Kid
There is no denying that Bud is young, even though he does a pretty good job looking out for himself. His tone is often one of child-like wonder and awe, especially when he sees something new. Bud usually doesn't pass judgment on people or places, but instead just takes it in.
Let's look at Bud's youthful tone: "I was carefuller talking to him this time so he couldn't track where I was" (10.30). Here, Bud is only thinking about one thing: not getting caught. He thinks that if he is caught, he'll have to go back to the Home and live among tons of kids, when what he really wants is to find a family and his dad and feel special and loved in a small place.
Unlike an adult, Bud doesn't always see the bigger picture. As a child, he tends to focus only on his one main goal without thinking about other important things like food, rest, stranger-danger, or anything else. And, of course, Bud uses the words like "carefuller," which are a believable words to say if you are ten.
Fearful: Vampires, Monsters, and Goons, Oh, My!
Even though we think Bud is very brave, he is also scared a lot. Of course, any of us would be scared if we had no money and no idea where our next meals would come from, or if we were locked up in a pitch black dirty old shed.
But sometimes Bud is scared because he doesn't know what to expect from adults. He tries to remember what certain words or actions mean, like in the scene when Bud asks after Miss Hill and the librarian replies, "'…Haven't you heard? […] I answered, 'No, ma'am,' and got my stomach ready to hear about Miss Hill biting the dust in some way that was going to give me nightmares'" (7.12, 17). Bud pays close attention to how grown-ups say things, so he braces himself for really bad news, even though the news turns out to be good. He just caused himself a moment of panic for no reason at all.
Think about the other times Bud has done this—like that time he sees a box of human blood in Lefty's car and quickly decides to take drive away, even though he doesn't know how to drive. Now, that's one decision based not on logic, but on fear.
Excited: Woot, Woot!
We like Bud for many reasons, but one of them is how he always finds a way to get excited. What does that have to do with tone, though? Well, plenty, when you think about Bud's attitude toward the things that happen to him. When the going gets tough, Bud (usually) gets tougher!
Remember when the cops burned down Hooverville, and there was crying and yelling and chaos all around? Well, what did Bud do? He sat right down to think and make a new plan: "I smoothed flyer out and took another good look at it. Maybe it came floating right back to em because this Herman E. Calloway really was my father. Wait a minute! I sat up. The names Caldwell and Calloway are a lot alike…" (8.255,256). We can tell Bud gets excited a lot because the author uses a lot of exclamation points, and he also because we get to see Bud running around be active pretty often.