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Sounder
Set in the Deep South, this Newbery Medal-winning novel tells the story of the great coon dog, Sounder, and the poor sharecroppers who own him.
During the difficult years of the nineteenth century South, an African-American boy and his poor family rarely have enough to eat. Each night, the boy's father takes their dog, Sounder, out to look for food and the man grows more desperate by the day.
When food suddenly appears on the table one morning, it seems like a blessing. But the sheriff and his deputies are not far behind. The ever-loyal Sounder remains determined to help the family he loves as hard times bear down on them.
This classic novel shows the courage, love, and faith that bind an African-American family together despite the racism and inhumanity they face. Readers who enjoy timeless dog stories such as Old Yeller and Where the Red Fern Grows will find much to love in Sounder.
During the difficult years of the nineteenth century South, an African-American boy and his poor family rarely have enough to eat. Each night, the boy's father takes their dog, Sounder, out to look for food and the man grows more desperate by the day.
When food suddenly appears on the table one morning, it seems like a blessing. But the sheriff and his deputies are not far behind. The ever-loyal Sounder remains determined to help the family he loves as hard times bear down on them.
This classic novel shows the courage, love, and faith that bind an African-American family together despite the racism and inhumanity they face. Readers who enjoy timeless dog stories such as Old Yeller and Where the Red Fern Grows will find much to love in Sounder.
116 pages, Paperback
First published October 8, 1969
About the author
William H. Armstrong
45 books63 followersWilliam H. Armstrong (1911 - 1999) was an American children's author and educator, best known for his 1969 Newbery Medal-winning novel, Sounder.
In 1956, at the request of his school headmaster, he published his first book, a study guide called Study Is Hard Work. Armstrong followed this title with numerous other self-help books, and in 1963 he was awarded the National School Bell Award of the National Association of School Administrators for distinguished service in the interpretation of education.
In 1969, Armstrong published his masterpiece, an eight-chapter novel titled Sounder about an African-American sharecropping family. Praised by critics, Sounder won the John Newbery Medal and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1970, and was adapted into a major motion picture in 1972.
In 1956, at the request of his school headmaster, he published his first book, a study guide called Study Is Hard Work. Armstrong followed this title with numerous other self-help books, and in 1963 he was awarded the National School Bell Award of the National Association of School Administrators for distinguished service in the interpretation of education.
In 1969, Armstrong published his masterpiece, an eight-chapter novel titled Sounder about an African-American sharecropping family. Praised by critics, Sounder won the John Newbery Medal and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1970, and was adapted into a major motion picture in 1972.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,469 reviews
April 20, 2019
"I had a father and a dog named Sounder…"
Believe it or not, this was my first time reading this classic Newbery award-winning book. I’m not sure why I didn’t read it as a child – I certainly read my fair share of animal books. I have to wonder if I would have felt the same overwhelming sense of loneliness I felt reading this now. I suspect I would have to some extent at least.
The story revolves around a poor, African-American family living in the Deep South. They struggle to get by on sharecropping and hunting. Issues of racism loom throughout. Though the title of the book points to the dog as the main character, it really is much more a coming of age story of the young, unnamed son of this loving, hard-working family. There are plenty of themes to explore here for both young and old readers – loyalty, faith, and determination to name a few. Aside from the dog of course, I also loved the boy’s desire to learn to read. He took solace in the stories his mother told him, and he yearned for books of his own. "The boy liked it when she told her stories. They took away night loneliness."
The boy learns some tough life lessons – some from his devoted mother and his loyal dog, and some on his own. It’s a story that will make you gulp a time or two, but there’s also that glimmer of hope that makes this such an endearing and memorable little book. 4.5 stars rounded up
"… there was no price that could be put on Sounder’s voice… It filled up the night and made music as though the branches of all the trees were being pulled across silver strings."
Believe it or not, this was my first time reading this classic Newbery award-winning book. I’m not sure why I didn’t read it as a child – I certainly read my fair share of animal books. I have to wonder if I would have felt the same overwhelming sense of loneliness I felt reading this now. I suspect I would have to some extent at least.
The story revolves around a poor, African-American family living in the Deep South. They struggle to get by on sharecropping and hunting. Issues of racism loom throughout. Though the title of the book points to the dog as the main character, it really is much more a coming of age story of the young, unnamed son of this loving, hard-working family. There are plenty of themes to explore here for both young and old readers – loyalty, faith, and determination to name a few. Aside from the dog of course, I also loved the boy’s desire to learn to read. He took solace in the stories his mother told him, and he yearned for books of his own. "The boy liked it when she told her stories. They took away night loneliness."
The boy learns some tough life lessons – some from his devoted mother and his loyal dog, and some on his own. It’s a story that will make you gulp a time or two, but there’s also that glimmer of hope that makes this such an endearing and memorable little book. 4.5 stars rounded up
"… there was no price that could be put on Sounder’s voice… It filled up the night and made music as though the branches of all the trees were being pulled across silver strings."
April 25, 2023
A classic worthy to be classified as such.
Prose--simple, strong and emotive. This is how prose should always be! Words that clutter and all that is unnecessary are removed.
The book is quiet. There is no fanfare. Hardships are relentless yet they do not conquer the family, and in this there lies hope.
The tale looks at a poor, black sharecropper family in the South. Events are told from the perspective of and through the thoughts of the family’s eldest son. He has had two years in school when the tale starts. His greatest wish is to be able to read.
“He would have a book with stories, then he wouldn’t be lonely.”
Something happens to the boy’s father and their dog, Sounder, a bulldog and redbone coonhound mix, a stray that became a beloved family member. Father, son and dog hunted possums and coons to fill out the meagre family diet. Sounder had a job to fulfill; he is not a coddled pet! Years pass. Time goes by, and we watch what happens.
There is a strong tone of universality in the story. This is achieved through the simplicity of the prose, through the fluid passage of time, through the absence on names. None of the characters are given names, except the dog. Names are not necessary. As stated, all clutter is removed!
The book received the Newberry Medal in 1970 after being published the year before. This is not a book for children; it is a book for all ages. The only reason why it might bee considered as such is because the story is told by the son.
The characters come alive—the mother the father and the son. The mother hums and sings softly:
“You gotta walk that lonesome valley, you gotta walk it by yourself, Ain’t nobody else gonna walk it for you.”
She tells her son:
“There is patience, child, and waiting got to be.”
The son comes to learn the lines of Michel de Montaigne:
“Only the unwise think changed is dead.”
This quote from Montaigne resonates as an underlying message of the book. Proof again that it is a book for all ages.
We understand who the mother is through her words and behavior. The father we come to understand through his actions. The son we come to understand by what he accomplishes.
Avery Brooks reads the audiobook. He reads it extremely well. His narration I have given five stars. He reads slowly, pausing where he should. He quietly sings the lines the mother sings. He intones women and men, the young and the old equally well. He captures superbly the tone and speech of the poor black Southern sharecroppers drawn in the story.
Don’t put this book off. It is superb.
Prose--simple, strong and emotive. This is how prose should always be! Words that clutter and all that is unnecessary are removed.
The book is quiet. There is no fanfare. Hardships are relentless yet they do not conquer the family, and in this there lies hope.
The tale looks at a poor, black sharecropper family in the South. Events are told from the perspective of and through the thoughts of the family’s eldest son. He has had two years in school when the tale starts. His greatest wish is to be able to read.
“He would have a book with stories, then he wouldn’t be lonely.”
Something happens to the boy’s father and their dog, Sounder, a bulldog and redbone coonhound mix, a stray that became a beloved family member. Father, son and dog hunted possums and coons to fill out the meagre family diet. Sounder had a job to fulfill; he is not a coddled pet! Years pass. Time goes by, and we watch what happens.
There is a strong tone of universality in the story. This is achieved through the simplicity of the prose, through the fluid passage of time, through the absence on names. None of the characters are given names, except the dog. Names are not necessary. As stated, all clutter is removed!
The book received the Newberry Medal in 1970 after being published the year before. This is not a book for children; it is a book for all ages. The only reason why it might bee considered as such is because the story is told by the son.
The characters come alive—the mother the father and the son. The mother hums and sings softly:
“You gotta walk that lonesome valley, you gotta walk it by yourself, Ain’t nobody else gonna walk it for you.”
She tells her son:
“There is patience, child, and waiting got to be.”
The son comes to learn the lines of Michel de Montaigne:
“Only the unwise think changed is dead.”
This quote from Montaigne resonates as an underlying message of the book. Proof again that it is a book for all ages.
We understand who the mother is through her words and behavior. The father we come to understand through his actions. The son we come to understand by what he accomplishes.
Avery Brooks reads the audiobook. He reads it extremely well. His narration I have given five stars. He reads slowly, pausing where he should. He quietly sings the lines the mother sings. He intones women and men, the young and the old equally well. He captures superbly the tone and speech of the poor black Southern sharecroppers drawn in the story.
Don’t put this book off. It is superb.
October 22, 2021
I missed reading this book in junior high, but it has been on my to read list for years. This powerful story about love and commitment is both inspired and heartbreaking. An African American family is torn apart when the father is arrested for stealing a ham. Sounder (his dog) is shot as he runs after the cart he is chained up in. What follows is a story of survival in a world that is both unfair and indifferent. The eldest son must try to provide for his mother and younger siblings. With no information on where his father is the eldest son sets out to find his father - and encounters bigotry and intolerance. Sounder is the only character in the book who is named; this lends weight to the 'nameless' number of African American families that this sharecropping family represents. Highest recommendation.
February 26, 2019
Dog story par excellance! Of course, tears at the end because...dog story.
March 23, 2023
The boy told his mother and the children about his night in the teacher's cabin. The teacher wanted him to come back and go to school. He had been asked in the teacher's cabin and do his chores. The children's eyes widened when they heard the cabin had two lamps, two stoves, and grass growing in a yard with a fence and a gate. (PG 100)
Newbery Award Winner- YA- 1969
This was one of the better Newbery winners I have come across but I will say it was very melancholy and the family situation, while the love and struggle felt real, was extremely depressing to read about. The boy just wanted to have books to read, as it was impossible to make the long trek to school on a daily basis, and a little bit of meat for his meals. Although he adored his dad and didn't say much about his mother's part in the house, his mother was the backbone and the glue that held the family together.
He meets a white man that's a teacher and he gives the boy an opportunity to teach him to read while working for him. This is all the boy needs to have hope for the future. All it takes is one person to care. Lovely and heart-wrenching story. Could be read in a couple of hours.
((I'm sorry--There's a dog named Sounder here too and he's a great family and coon catching dog but it was more than the dog but it was also about the dog.))
Newbery Award Winner- YA- 1969
This was one of the better Newbery winners I have come across but I will say it was very melancholy and the family situation, while the love and struggle felt real, was extremely depressing to read about. The boy just wanted to have books to read, as it was impossible to make the long trek to school on a daily basis, and a little bit of meat for his meals. Although he adored his dad and didn't say much about his mother's part in the house, his mother was the backbone and the glue that held the family together.
He meets a white man that's a teacher and he gives the boy an opportunity to teach him to read while working for him. This is all the boy needs to have hope for the future. All it takes is one person to care. Lovely and heart-wrenching story. Could be read in a couple of hours.
((I'm sorry--There's a dog named Sounder here too and he's a great family and coon catching dog but it was more than the dog but it was also about the dog.))
March 9, 2019
Published in 1969, ‘Sounder’ by William H Armstrong won the Newberry Medal in 1970, and was made into a movie in 1972. A family of black sharecroppers live a subsistence lifestyle, supplementing their meager diet with what the father can provide from hunting, possums, raccoons. Lately, the raccoons have been scare. Sounder, part redbone hound and part bulldog is their melodious hunting dog. His calling bark echoes through the trees and all the neighbors know his unique sound. It seems Sounder’s body was created just for the music of his bark. One morning the boy awakens to the smell of hambone boiling in a pot on the stove. Only twice before in his life has the boy smelled hambone cooking. For three days, there is good eating. Then, three white men show up at the cabin, a sheriff and two deputies. The boy’s father is arrested for stealing the ham and Sounder, following after his master, is shot by one of the deputies.
The theme of loneliness recurs throughout the novel. The first time it is mentioned in the story, it's night loneliness that the boy suffers, which his mother tells him is part fear. For the boy, his father’s presence staves off fear. The boy thinks that if he could read, that would also fight loneliness. When the men take his father away, loneliness hangs ever heavier in the cabin. The boy feels it like a physical presence. The mother sings “You gotta walk that lonesome valley, you gotta walk it by yourself, Ain’t nobody else gonna walk it for you.” The cruel meanness of a jailer and a prison guard cause the boy physical and emotional pain. This suffering is a sharp, pungent kind of loneliness, where he is cut off from the simple kindness of humanity. Even the fact that the boy finds a part of Sounder’s ear, where it had been shot off, speaks to me of isolation and loneliness. Without the sounds that the ear brings us, we are in a silent, lonely place. The melodious ringing call of Sounder’s bark has disappeared. He is still alive but seriously crippled, and no longer barks at all.
My favorite part of the story is the elderly teacher with snow-white hair who takes the boy home and helps him clean up his hurt hand. The boy is carrying a book by the French philosopher, Montaigne, that he rescued from a trash barrel, when he meets the teacher. The teacher talks to a plant that he had to reset, which of course, is an analogy for the boy’s disturbed roots. Oh, for kindness, to help settle our roots and let us sink into the good earth of friendships and into the rich connective soil of family and honest relationships. Who knows what fruit might be borne? A sad, heartbreaking story with the sweet golden dulcet tones of redemptive hope.
The theme of loneliness recurs throughout the novel. The first time it is mentioned in the story, it's night loneliness that the boy suffers, which his mother tells him is part fear. For the boy, his father’s presence staves off fear. The boy thinks that if he could read, that would also fight loneliness. When the men take his father away, loneliness hangs ever heavier in the cabin. The boy feels it like a physical presence. The mother sings “You gotta walk that lonesome valley, you gotta walk it by yourself, Ain’t nobody else gonna walk it for you.” The cruel meanness of a jailer and a prison guard cause the boy physical and emotional pain. This suffering is a sharp, pungent kind of loneliness, where he is cut off from the simple kindness of humanity. Even the fact that the boy finds a part of Sounder’s ear, where it had been shot off, speaks to me of isolation and loneliness. Without the sounds that the ear brings us, we are in a silent, lonely place. The melodious ringing call of Sounder’s bark has disappeared. He is still alive but seriously crippled, and no longer barks at all.
My favorite part of the story is the elderly teacher with snow-white hair who takes the boy home and helps him clean up his hurt hand. The boy is carrying a book by the French philosopher, Montaigne, that he rescued from a trash barrel, when he meets the teacher. The teacher talks to a plant that he had to reset, which of course, is an analogy for the boy’s disturbed roots. Oh, for kindness, to help settle our roots and let us sink into the good earth of friendships and into the rich connective soil of family and honest relationships. Who knows what fruit might be borne? A sad, heartbreaking story with the sweet golden dulcet tones of redemptive hope.
January 25, 2012
Certainly, I value the storyline of poor black sharecroppers--it is an important narrative to tell. I did not, however, enjoy the the ways in which Armstrong told this narrative.
Except for the ending, I was bored by his stilted prose. That is my primary issue with the story. In addition, I was annoyed by the nameless characters in this story. I do not buy the suggestion that their namelessness suggests that they represent many poor and rural African Americans during this time. For me, their namelessness suggests that the author may not have really understood the subjects about which he wrote.
Except for the ending, I was bored by his stilted prose. That is my primary issue with the story. In addition, I was annoyed by the nameless characters in this story. I do not buy the suggestion that their namelessness suggests that they represent many poor and rural African Americans during this time. For me, their namelessness suggests that the author may not have really understood the subjects about which he wrote.
May 31, 2020
This was required reading for me in 6th grade. I remember it opening my eyes to racism and I was appalled that anyone would be treated differently because of the color of their skin. Just after I'd finished the book, I walked into the bathroom in the Miami airport and saw two black women standing against the wall. To prove I wasn't racist, I stood between them until one leaned over and mentioned that it was a line. I was embarrassed and confused. Perhaps it's not the best way to introduce a child to racism by telling her she's racist.
October 13, 2022
I was truly moved by this profound story and listened spell-bound as it unfolded. It is wonderfully ready by Avery Brooks.
My favorite passage:
"He had learned to read his book with the torn cover better now. He had read in it: "only the unwise think that what is changed is dead." He had asked the teacher what this meant. If a flower blooms once it goes on blooming somewhere forever. It blooms on for whoever has seen it blooming."
My favorite passage:
"He had learned to read his book with the torn cover better now. He had read in it: "only the unwise think that what is changed is dead." He had asked the teacher what this meant. If a flower blooms once it goes on blooming somewhere forever. It blooms on for whoever has seen it blooming."
September 9, 2012
I know that Armstrong wrote this as a parallel to the story of Ulysses' dog, and that he intentionally left details ambiguous so that all readers could identify with the characters and setting, but I spent the entire book bothered by the way a white author portrayed an African-American family--none of whom were named. Identity is important, and when a book is written so intimately but without names, it devalues (for me) the importance of the characters themselves. I know Armstrong said he wrote the book to be universal, but it's not universal. It's the story of a family discriminated against because of their race; a family already devalued by their societal status, now further devalued by remaining nameless. I also wonder how Armstrong, as a white author, can hope to accurately describe the thoughts of a boy who experiences racism. He writes of hatred, but I was distracted by wondering how these descriptions could be accurate. My peripheral (central?) questions pulled me too far out of the story to enjoy even the rich descriptions and emotions.
July 8, 2021
The father of a poor African-American sharecropping family steals a ham to feed his hungry family in the late 19th Century. He had been hunting every night with his coon dog, Sounder, but had no luck. The sheriff and his deputies arrest the father, and seriously wound Sounder when they shoot him. The son helps his mother with the work, and searches the chain gangs for his father. Along the way, he meets a schoolteacher who helps him learn to read, and tells him stories about life.
"Sounder" is a beautifully written story about a sad situation. The book is written from the point of view of the boy who is coming of age in a prejudiced world during hard times. Many of the characters, including the dog Sounder, display courage in a quiet, dignified manner. This Newbery Award winner can be enjoyed by both older children and adults.
"Sounder" is a beautifully written story about a sad situation. The book is written from the point of view of the boy who is coming of age in a prejudiced world during hard times. Many of the characters, including the dog Sounder, display courage in a quiet, dignified manner. This Newbery Award winner can be enjoyed by both older children and adults.
October 21, 2021
I was pleasantly surprised by this book, though the story itself doesn't strike a pleasant tone. In most years I would quickly agreed that Sounder was the best choice for the Newbery Medal, but for 1970 I probably would have given the award to John D. Fitzgerald's More Adventures of the Great Brain.
William H. Armstrong writes with a quiet sincerity I have not seen exceeded. Young readers are often told that no matter how they feel now, everything will be okay eventually; in the long run their hurt and deprivation will be forgotten. By contrast, William H. Armstrong doesn't back away from the real horrors that this African-American family living in the mountains must face in Sounder. He doesn't gloss over situations that can't be fixed, that can never be made right again. In describing the devastating, grotesque injuries suffered by the coon dog Sounder, and the unspeakable treatment inflicted upon the boy's father, Mr. Armstrong acknowledges not only his characters' raw, weeping wounds, but the similar feelings of his readers that sometimes, things will not be okay; bad things happen that can never be reversed.
The power of Sounder is breathtaking. This is a worthy novel by a great author.
William H. Armstrong writes with a quiet sincerity I have not seen exceeded. Young readers are often told that no matter how they feel now, everything will be okay eventually; in the long run their hurt and deprivation will be forgotten. By contrast, William H. Armstrong doesn't back away from the real horrors that this African-American family living in the mountains must face in Sounder. He doesn't gloss over situations that can't be fixed, that can never be made right again. In describing the devastating, grotesque injuries suffered by the coon dog Sounder, and the unspeakable treatment inflicted upon the boy's father, Mr. Armstrong acknowledges not only his characters' raw, weeping wounds, but the similar feelings of his readers that sometimes, things will not be okay; bad things happen that can never be reversed.
The power of Sounder is breathtaking. This is a worthy novel by a great author.
March 1, 2019
“ He had asked the teacher what it meant, and the teacher had said that if a flower blooms once, it goes on blooming somewhere forever. It blooms on for whoever has seen it blooming. It was not quite clear to the boy then, but it was now. Years later, walking the earth as a man, it would all sweep back over him, again and again, like an echo on the wind. “
Classic “ children’s” book and Newberry Award winner about a poor black sharecropper’s family and their dog Sounder, which you will understand as a completely different story than the one you read in 5 th or 6 th grade if you revisit it after some 50 years. A story much less about a dog than it is about the loves and losses one faces in life.
Read for March On The Southern Literary Trail - 5 stars
Classic “ children’s” book and Newberry Award winner about a poor black sharecropper’s family and their dog Sounder, which you will understand as a completely different story than the one you read in 5 th or 6 th grade if you revisit it after some 50 years. A story much less about a dog than it is about the loves and losses one faces in life.
Read for March On The Southern Literary Trail - 5 stars
September 24, 2022
Sounder is a loyal coon hunting dog that stumbles into the life of his master to be. A poor family of sharecroppers who cannot afford to support themselves in the middle of winter. So the father steals a ham for his wife and starving children. The sheriff and deputies come to the door with the evidence still present. Sounder, tries to rescue his master, gets horribly shot while the master is taken to jail. The oldest son in the family look everywhere for Sounder and is unable to find his father's loyal dog. Sounder is all he has left of his father who is in jail and later working somewhere in a Labor Camp. While the father is in jail his mother tries to make amends by returning the stolen food, she is deeply religious and tries to do the right thing. The eldest son is very alone, his desire to read and attend school, almost outweighs his determination to find his father. When Sounder finally returns, he is broken and barely a dog. Sounder is the only one given a name leaving you with the personalities and emotions of a resilient family. The years the father is gone goes by way to fast, without much detail, but the joyous reunion between master and dog are deep, heartfelt, love.
May 23, 2009
I remember reading this when I was maybe 8 or 9, and of being completely inconsolable afterwards. I have an overactive empathy gene, I think, so certain books affect me far more that I would like to be affected. Thankfully, this time around, I was able to read through this without going through a box of Kleenex during and a period of depression afterwards.
Sounder is a story that deals with loyalty and loss, as well as courage and perseverance in the face of racism and hatred and meanness. So many difficult issues packed into such a small package, and yet Armstrong pulls it off without being overbearing or preachy.
I love this book, and I am glad that I was able to experience it again as an adult. I love the message conveyed at the end (and I'm paraphrasing here): Even though what we've loved is gone, it still lives on in our memory, so it is eternal and cannot be destroyed.
Sounder is a story that deals with loyalty and loss, as well as courage and perseverance in the face of racism and hatred and meanness. So many difficult issues packed into such a small package, and yet Armstrong pulls it off without being overbearing or preachy.
I love this book, and I am glad that I was able to experience it again as an adult. I love the message conveyed at the end (and I'm paraphrasing here): Even though what we've loved is gone, it still lives on in our memory, so it is eternal and cannot be destroyed.
March 7, 2019
An emotional book with elements of love, loss, growth and hope.
March 1, 2020
Sounder, the coon dog, is the only character with a name in this whole book. This is obviously intentional on the part of the author to drive home some point. Some have posited that it illustrates the meaninglessness and hopelessness of the lives of the poor black sharecropper family at the center of this story. Being treated nearly as non-entities would be similar to being completely nameless. Being illiterate would mean that their story, like the stories of millions of other poor illiterate minorities, would likely never be told – except perhaps in a general way within a work of fiction such as this.
I enjoyed this story very much. I had selected it as a book to read with my 4th-grade reading group (comprised of myself and six students), but upon reading the first chapter I abandoned that idea and determined that much of its prose was needlessly out of reach for my young students – heck, some of it was over my head too. But, as I said, the story was good. I just wish the author had presented it in a way that would be more accessible to younger readers rather than trying to win literary kudos.
In almost every story featuring a dog, the dog dies at the end. SPOILER ALERT: Sounder is no exception. I especially appreciated the closing sentences which describe the (newly literate) boy's reaction upon learning of Sounder's old-age death:
I enjoyed this story very much. I had selected it as a book to read with my 4th-grade reading group (comprised of myself and six students), but upon reading the first chapter I abandoned that idea and determined that much of its prose was needlessly out of reach for my young students – heck, some of it was over my head too. But, as I said, the story was good. I just wish the author had presented it in a way that would be more accessible to younger readers rather than trying to win literary kudos.
In almost every story featuring a dog, the dog dies at the end. SPOILER ALERT: Sounder is no exception. I especially appreciated the closing sentences which describe the (newly literate) boy's reaction upon learning of Sounder's old-age death:
[He] was glad. He had learned to read his book with the torn cover better now. He had read in it: “Only the unwise think that what has changed is dead.” He had asked the teacher what it meant, and the teacher had said that if a flower blooms once, it goes on blooming somewhere forever. It blooms on for whoever has seen it blooming. It was not quite clear to the boy then, but it was now.
Years later, walking the earth as a man, it would all sweep back over him, again and again, like an echo on the wind.
The pine trees would look down forever on a lantern burning out of oil but not going out. A harvest moon would cast shadows forever of a man walking upright, his dog bouncing after him. And the quiet of the night would fill and echo again with the deep voice of Sounder, the great coon dog.
July 26, 2019
This was, surprisingly, a VERY depressing read. Especially considering that it is for small children. Don't get me wrong, I think the experience is worthwhile, but it isn't done too often.
The story is that of a poor black family whose father eventually steals food when he and his dog, the titular Sounder, can no longer find any game. I could now tell you of the struggle and the hardship and the pain (both physical and emotional) but that might spoiler too much of the plot. As you can see from the opening paragraph of this review, however, it doesn't have a happy ending as a fairy tale would have. The author tried to show how the family heals despite what happens towards the end, and maybe the message is clear for Christians as the author was heavily influenced by that faith, but overall it's a pretty depressing ending if you ask me.
However, the way the story was told and the way the author ended it serve one purpose he might not have intended: to make it very real-to-life and therefore being even more adequate for teaching young and old readers about the time this story is set in, about slavery, about family values, about honesty (in words and deeds), about the human heart and spirit.
Yes, some people will probably see the Christian motive in this. I didn't. Well, in the end I did see what the author intended to do, but it didn't work for me no matter what the author said in the foreword (which was interesting nonetheless).
What helped me get through this was that it was pretty short and that the writing style was simple and direct (just like when someone relates a story to you that they have heard from someone else).
A story that definitely stands out so I'm glad I read it for that reason alone.
The story is that of a poor black family whose father eventually steals food when he and his dog, the titular Sounder, can no longer find any game. I could now tell you of the struggle and the hardship and the pain (both physical and emotional) but that might spoiler too much of the plot. As you can see from the opening paragraph of this review, however, it doesn't have a happy ending as a fairy tale would have. The author tried to show how the family heals despite what happens towards the end, and maybe the message is clear for Christians as the author was heavily influenced by that faith, but overall it's a pretty depressing ending if you ask me.
However, the way the story was told and the way the author ended it serve one purpose he might not have intended: to make it very real-to-life and therefore being even more adequate for teaching young and old readers about the time this story is set in, about slavery, about family values, about honesty (in words and deeds), about the human heart and spirit.
Yes, some people will probably see the Christian motive in this. I didn't. Well, in the end I did see what the author intended to do, but it didn't work for me no matter what the author said in the foreword (which was interesting nonetheless).
What helped me get through this was that it was pretty short and that the writing style was simple and direct (just like when someone relates a story to you that they have heard from someone else).
A story that definitely stands out so I'm glad I read it for that reason alone.
January 11, 2012
For me it was a very fast read of a thought provoking story. I hope my students enjoy it as much as I did.
March 11, 2022
Month of January 2022: Young Reader’s Classics
AR POINTS: 3.0 READING LEVEL: 5.3
(Ages 8-12 years, grades 3-7)
Originally published in 1969.
I would say that young children reading this book should be a bit more of a mature reader because of the author’s writing style, just the way he words his sentences. I got more into the groove of the story after the first chapter.
According to William Armstrong, himself, this was told to him by an old black man who was his teacher and who used to work for his father years ago, a story that had stayed with him for 50 years before he wrote it in a book. In the Author’s Note, he writes specifically that it was not from Aesop, the Old Testament or Homer (as almost every website on the internet proclaims). This was history…the old black man’s history.
This story was about a poor black family with four kids, including “the boy”, trying to survive as sharecroppers sometime after slavery had ended. They also had a coon dog named Sounder, who was very attached to the dad. One day the dad stole some ham, which the family feasted on for two or three days before the law came to the door and took the dad away in handcuffs. The dog was shot, blowing off part of the side of one face, his ear and shoulder. Sounder was able to barely make it under the house where he usually slept. “The boy” just knew he went there to die, but Sounder had disappeared by morning.
“The boy” didn’t give up on finding Sounder, and he didn’t give up on finding where his father was sent to do his hard time. These circumstances lead him to a town where he incidentally met a teacher, a kind white man, who offered “the boy” an opportunity to be educated in reading and writing.
I believe, as the author believed, that the old black man, the teacher who taught him how to read and write some years later and told this story to him, was “the boy”.
BOOK-TO-MOVIE
“Sounder” (1972), starring Cicely Tyson as the mother, Paul Winfield as the father and Kevin Hooks as the boy.
“Sounder” (2003 remake), directed by Kevin Hooks, starring Carl Lumbly as the father, Suzzanne Douglas as the mother and Daniel Lee Robertson III as the boy.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
William Howard Armstrong (1911-1999) was born in Lexington, Virginia. He was a small kid. He had asthma. He wore thick black-framed glasses. So yes! He had a hard time in school. But, his teachers saw something special in his writings at an early age and encouraged him. His mother read Bible stories to him that he absolutely loved. Stories were told around the kitchen table. One particular story, told by an old black man, who was his teacher and also worked for his father, about a faithful coon dog named Sounder had stuck with William and would become the basis of this John Newbery Medal award winning novel, “Sounder”. William died at his home in Kent, Connecticut, at age 87.
His photo, birth and death info are online at Find A Grave, but no cemetery listed and no headstone.
INTERESTING THING ABOUT OAK LEAVES
p. 48: Oak leaves contain strong acids that heals and toughen skin. Dogs and maimed animals will head to the woods and lay down in wet oak leaves, which act as a poultice, drawing out poisons and heals the wound with a hard brown scab. I wonder if this is really true? And if so, does it work on humans as well?
AR POINTS: 3.0 READING LEVEL: 5.3
(Ages 8-12 years, grades 3-7)
Originally published in 1969.
I would say that young children reading this book should be a bit more of a mature reader because of the author’s writing style, just the way he words his sentences. I got more into the groove of the story after the first chapter.
According to William Armstrong, himself, this was told to him by an old black man who was his teacher and who used to work for his father years ago, a story that had stayed with him for 50 years before he wrote it in a book. In the Author’s Note, he writes specifically that it was not from Aesop, the Old Testament or Homer (as almost every website on the internet proclaims). This was history…the old black man’s history.
This story was about a poor black family with four kids, including “the boy”, trying to survive as sharecroppers sometime after slavery had ended. They also had a coon dog named Sounder, who was very attached to the dad. One day the dad stole some ham, which the family feasted on for two or three days before the law came to the door and took the dad away in handcuffs. The dog was shot, blowing off part of the side of one face, his ear and shoulder. Sounder was able to barely make it under the house where he usually slept. “The boy” just knew he went there to die, but Sounder had disappeared by morning.
“The boy” didn’t give up on finding Sounder, and he didn’t give up on finding where his father was sent to do his hard time. These circumstances lead him to a town where he incidentally met a teacher, a kind white man, who offered “the boy” an opportunity to be educated in reading and writing.
I believe, as the author believed, that the old black man, the teacher who taught him how to read and write some years later and told this story to him, was “the boy”.
BOOK-TO-MOVIE
“Sounder” (1972), starring Cicely Tyson as the mother, Paul Winfield as the father and Kevin Hooks as the boy.
“Sounder” (2003 remake), directed by Kevin Hooks, starring Carl Lumbly as the father, Suzzanne Douglas as the mother and Daniel Lee Robertson III as the boy.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
William Howard Armstrong (1911-1999) was born in Lexington, Virginia. He was a small kid. He had asthma. He wore thick black-framed glasses. So yes! He had a hard time in school. But, his teachers saw something special in his writings at an early age and encouraged him. His mother read Bible stories to him that he absolutely loved. Stories were told around the kitchen table. One particular story, told by an old black man, who was his teacher and also worked for his father, about a faithful coon dog named Sounder had stuck with William and would become the basis of this John Newbery Medal award winning novel, “Sounder”. William died at his home in Kent, Connecticut, at age 87.
His photo, birth and death info are online at Find A Grave, but no cemetery listed and no headstone.
INTERESTING THING ABOUT OAK LEAVES
p. 48: Oak leaves contain strong acids that heals and toughen skin. Dogs and maimed animals will head to the woods and lay down in wet oak leaves, which act as a poultice, drawing out poisons and heals the wound with a hard brown scab. I wonder if this is really true? And if so, does it work on humans as well?
August 9, 2024
5+ stars (8/10 hearts). This book is so hauntingly beautiful… and terrible.
Armstrong’s writing is absolutely amazing—so simple and powerful and lovely. His characters, nameless enough to be anyone, and yet very fully persons, are splendidly done. I love the mother and the boy… I can’t help loving the father, too. The villains are portrayed so realistically, and the plot is so very morally grey. I love how Joseph’s story gives a sort of faint underline to the boy’s…
“Ain’t no earthly power can make a story end as pretty as Joseph’s; ‘twas the Lord.”
This book captures the spirit of the times and of the people it writes of.The thought patterns are so different than any other book. The descriptions are the best. And then there’s the last paragraph….
[T]he teacher had said that if a flower blooms once, it goes on blooming somewhere forever. It blooms on for whoever has seen it blooming. It was not quite clear to the boy then, but it was now.
Years later, walking the earth as a man, it would all sweep back over him, again and again, like an echo on the wind.
The pine trees would look down forever on a lantern burning out of oil but not going out. A harvest moon would cast shadows forever of a man walking upright, his dog bouncing after him. And the quiet of the night would fill and echo again with the deep voice of Sounder, the great coon dog.
Armstrong’s writing is absolutely amazing—so simple and powerful and lovely. His characters, nameless enough to be anyone, and yet very fully persons, are splendidly done. I love the mother and the boy… I can’t help loving the father, too. The villains are portrayed so realistically, and the plot is so very morally grey. I love how Joseph’s story gives a sort of faint underline to the boy’s…
“Ain’t no earthly power can make a story end as pretty as Joseph’s; ‘twas the Lord.”
This book captures the spirit of the times and of the people it writes of.The thought patterns are so different than any other book. The descriptions are the best. And then there’s the last paragraph….
[T]he teacher had said that if a flower blooms once, it goes on blooming somewhere forever. It blooms on for whoever has seen it blooming. It was not quite clear to the boy then, but it was now.
Years later, walking the earth as a man, it would all sweep back over him, again and again, like an echo on the wind.
The pine trees would look down forever on a lantern burning out of oil but not going out. A harvest moon would cast shadows forever of a man walking upright, his dog bouncing after him. And the quiet of the night would fill and echo again with the deep voice of Sounder, the great coon dog.
December 15, 2020
This is not a book about a boy and his dog. It ripped my heart out. The writing is excellent. It feels too heavy and possibly subtle for children, but maybe for high schoolers.
February 3, 2014
I've read several of these Newberry honored books now, and they make me wonder about the committee. The picture I get of the voters are of a bunch of middle aged white folk who think of books as a kind of castor oil. Not good tasting, but it's medicine and it's good for you whether you like it or not.
This one checks off all the boxes. The writing is graceful and beautiful, but stilted. There are a couple of events, but no story here. Story is something kids might like, so we can't have any of that. There are some pointless literary quirks that would be good to point out in a classroom setting, but are basically annoyances. Here, the main one is the lack of names for the characters. That would be OK, except the main character has younger brothers and sisters, and the writer lacks the skill to give any of the siblings a recognizable identity. And then there's the ever present nod to important, edifying issues: here it's the mistreatment of poor blacks in the deep south in the post Plessy v Ferguson era. (That's the 1899 case that said that separate but equal was OK, and was finally overruled by Brown v Board of Education in 1955.)
It's a miracle to me that The Graveyard Book won the Newberry award. I guess it means that the voters are not perfect in choosing books that will bore young readers and put them off of reading. But they are definitely close to perfect in that regard. And its true, much of the stuff that kids want to read on their own is drek. But there are also many good books out there that are also enjoyable, and if kids find good books that they like to read, who knows, maybe they would read more. But my guess is that that won't happen so long as everyone seems to agree that these Newberry books are what kids "should" be reading.
This one checks off all the boxes. The writing is graceful and beautiful, but stilted. There are a couple of events, but no story here. Story is something kids might like, so we can't have any of that. There are some pointless literary quirks that would be good to point out in a classroom setting, but are basically annoyances. Here, the main one is the lack of names for the characters. That would be OK, except the main character has younger brothers and sisters, and the writer lacks the skill to give any of the siblings a recognizable identity. And then there's the ever present nod to important, edifying issues: here it's the mistreatment of poor blacks in the deep south in the post Plessy v Ferguson era. (That's the 1899 case that said that separate but equal was OK, and was finally overruled by Brown v Board of Education in 1955.)
It's a miracle to me that The Graveyard Book won the Newberry award. I guess it means that the voters are not perfect in choosing books that will bore young readers and put them off of reading. But they are definitely close to perfect in that regard. And its true, much of the stuff that kids want to read on their own is drek. But there are also many good books out there that are also enjoyable, and if kids find good books that they like to read, who knows, maybe they would read more. But my guess is that that won't happen so long as everyone seems to agree that these Newberry books are what kids "should" be reading.
September 15, 2013
Winner of the 1970 Newbery. Set probably some time in the ‘30s, this book centers on an unnamed black boy who must grow up fast after his poor, sharecropper father is arrested for stealing a ham for his hungry family. The titular dog, a hound/bulldog mix who loves to hunt with the father, is hit with a shotgun during the arrest, and never hunts again. It’s a bleak tale; the boy’s silent rage, in which he visualizes brutal violence befalling the unjust, cruel white men who oppress him and his father, is mitigated only by a persistent desire to educate himself, which blooms when he meets a kindly widowed teacher.
This gift of literacy, which literally opens up new worlds to the boy (there is a distinct albeit unsaid implication that he will eventually move beyond the narrow world of shacks in which he grew up), in some small way helps the boy from being crushed by the destruction of the spirits and bodies of both father and dog. In the end, after the miserable dog finally dies under the house, the boy is glad: “Only the unwise think that what has changed is dead,” he consoles himself. Is this really a book for children? I suppose so, despite the bleakness and injustice that saturates the story. I read this book as a child, and though much of his poetic prose and historical import must have gone over my head, I remember being very moved by the cruelties the boy and dog endured. However, this is definitely also a story that adults not only can by edified by, they ought to.
[read twice]
This gift of literacy, which literally opens up new worlds to the boy (there is a distinct albeit unsaid implication that he will eventually move beyond the narrow world of shacks in which he grew up), in some small way helps the boy from being crushed by the destruction of the spirits and bodies of both father and dog. In the end, after the miserable dog finally dies under the house, the boy is glad: “Only the unwise think that what has changed is dead,” he consoles himself. Is this really a book for children? I suppose so, despite the bleakness and injustice that saturates the story. I read this book as a child, and though much of his poetic prose and historical import must have gone over my head, I remember being very moved by the cruelties the boy and dog endured. However, this is definitely also a story that adults not only can by edified by, they ought to.
[read twice]
October 16, 2020
It's weird, I feel like I've heard of this book before but I just never read it? Not sure if that makes sense..
Sounder was a book that brought on the emotional choo-choo train for me. There's just something about dogs that makes me cry and I don't know what to do. Or maybe I just picked one emotional book after another.. and that was just not the right thing to do. Either way, I dove into it and I most definitely cried.
In it, you will meet a boy who lost his father and dog in the same day. Their dog, Sounder, always went hunting with him and his father. So the day that his father gets arrested for stealing.. is the day that their dog was shot.
At this point, I took a breather. I have no idea how I would react to this sort of situation if I was in it. Probably would've gone ham on the cops.. but that's just me.
After his dad was taken away, the house is just silent. Sounder is badly injured and doesn't make a sound anymore. His mother talks about some serious topics and tells him it's just the fear talking. She tries her hardest but it just isn't enough for him.
Along the way, we get snippets of cruelty and suffering. Whether it was physical or emotional pain, my heart hurt. This book dove into so many deep topics that just opened my eyes a bit more because it's nothing something I've ever gone through.
In the end, this book was just amazing. Simply amazing.
Sounder was a book that brought on the emotional choo-choo train for me. There's just something about dogs that makes me cry and I don't know what to do. Or maybe I just picked one emotional book after another.. and that was just not the right thing to do. Either way, I dove into it and I most definitely cried.
In it, you will meet a boy who lost his father and dog in the same day. Their dog, Sounder, always went hunting with him and his father. So the day that his father gets arrested for stealing.. is the day that their dog was shot.
At this point, I took a breather. I have no idea how I would react to this sort of situation if I was in it. Probably would've gone ham on the cops.. but that's just me.
After his dad was taken away, the house is just silent. Sounder is badly injured and doesn't make a sound anymore. His mother talks about some serious topics and tells him it's just the fear talking. She tries her hardest but it just isn't enough for him.
Along the way, we get snippets of cruelty and suffering. Whether it was physical or emotional pain, my heart hurt. This book dove into so many deep topics that just opened my eyes a bit more because it's nothing something I've ever gone through.
In the end, this book was just amazing. Simply amazing.
May 16, 2019
This is the most depressing book that I have read in aeons! Endless hardship, disappointment, and tragedy. Occasionally, a mote of happiness, a hint of celebration, would beam through the grey skies, only to be stamped out with the vigour of a sledgehammer brought down upon an ant. Gloomy day followed gloomy day. Disasters heaped one upon the other. So why the four stars? A fair question. I did not enjoy this book. Did the author intend that this book should give enjoyment? Probably not. Hence, four stars. An excellent piece of misery!
April 10, 2018
A childhood favorites...
June 12, 2013
I was on a Newbery kick and brought Sounder home from the library. My husband saw it and remarked that it would be a great read-aloud and asked if I'd read it before. I said that I couldn't remember if I'd read it (I'm like that sometimes).
Well, as it turns out, Sounder is not the type of book you'd forget that you'd read!
Sounder and his master, the boy's father, suffer similarly disfiguring fates at the hands of the law, and both return home to endure, then die.
I did love how the mom reacted to the boy's news that a schoolteacher had offered him room and board and schooling. Rather than be selfish/cautious/reluctant about the offer and make him stay home to help earn a living in his father's jailed absence, she rejoiced. She believed this boy's life had been touched by God.
The chance we have to obtain a free education is so often a source of grumbling (especially where the words "summer" and "vacation" are concerned). How blessed by God I am to live how and where I do! I am definitely reading this one to the kiddos. Even if it's a sad story, it's good that someone has told it. And it creates a discussion that must be had among those with lives of privilege.
Well, as it turns out, Sounder is not the type of book you'd forget that you'd read!
Sounder and his master, the boy's father, suffer similarly disfiguring fates at the hands of the law, and both return home to endure, then die.
I did love how the mom reacted to the boy's news that a schoolteacher had offered him room and board and schooling. Rather than be selfish/cautious/reluctant about the offer and make him stay home to help earn a living in his father's jailed absence, she rejoiced. She believed this boy's life had been touched by God.
The chance we have to obtain a free education is so often a source of grumbling (especially where the words "summer" and "vacation" are concerned). How blessed by God I am to live how and where I do! I am definitely reading this one to the kiddos. Even if it's a sad story, it's good that someone has told it. And it creates a discussion that must be had among those with lives of privilege.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 27, 2019
This is a classic book that I had not read before. It is brief. The human characters are not named. They are referred to as the boy, his mother, his father, the teacher.
I expected this book to be somewhat of a cliche i.e. young boy is attached to his dog, Sounder, and the dog dies. The end.
I will not divulge how the story actually ends, because that would be a spoiler.
This is a powerful story with universal themes that are appropriate for people of all ages.
The audiobook had an excellent narrator. In addition to reading the narration, he was able to effectively sing the songs that the boy’s mother sang in a low slow voice.
I rate it 5 stars.
I expected this book to be somewhat of a cliche i.e. young boy is attached to his dog, Sounder, and the dog dies. The end.
I will not divulge how the story actually ends, because that would be a spoiler.
This is a powerful story with universal themes that are appropriate for people of all ages.
The audiobook had an excellent narrator. In addition to reading the narration, he was able to effectively sing the songs that the boy’s mother sang in a low slow voice.
I rate it 5 stars.
April 14, 2009
I read this on a plane and I read it fast so that I wouldn't cry. Oh, it's so good. I don't know why I never read it in elementary school. I secretly have a tendency to avoid books that involve animals because I ALWAYS bawl. This was no exception. I LOVED the analogies between Sounder and the boy's father.
I highly recommend this book.
I highly recommend this book.
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