SOUNDER by William H. Armstrong is set in the 19th-century American South. It is the story a poor African-American sharecropping family, their faithful dog, Sounder, and the eldest boy's efforts to learn how to read and help his mother to support the family after his father is arrested for stealing a ham. When Sounder chases after the Sheriff's deputies he is shot and he crawls away, seemingly to die. For weeks the boy thinks that he has lost both his father and his dog, but then Sounder comes back, lame and missing an ear. The boy continues to search for his father, until a few years later the father returns home, disabled from a quarry accident. Reunited at last, the father and Sounder go on one final hunting trip together...
This book is the winner of numerous awards
This book features in the following series: Fly High With Novels, Perennial Classics, Perennial Library, Puffin .
This book has been graded for interest at 9-12 years.
There are 144 pages in this book. This book was published in 2015 by Penguin Random House Children's UK .
William H. Armstrong (1911 - 1999) was an American children's author and educator, best known for his 1969 novel Sounder , which won the Newbery Medal.
This book contains the following story:
Sounder
Sounder cannot save his master - a father who is driven to steal for his hungry wife and children - from the sheriff's posse. Nor can he save him from fate, which pursues both master and dog, mauling each of them in it's cruel, impersonal jaws, while the boy who loves the two of them is forced to bear his sorrow like a man. Set in the deep South, this is a tale about the courage and love that bind a black sharecropping family together despite extreme prejudice and inhumanity from the outside world.
This book has been nominated for the following award:
Newbery Award
The Newbery Medal, named after 18th-century British bookseller John Newbery, is one of the most prestigious awards in children's literature. Established in 1922 by the American Library Association (ALA), the Newbery Medal is awarded annually to the author of the most distinguished American children's book published in the previous year. The award committee evaluates nominees based on literary quality, originality, presentation, and relevance to childrens literature. The book should demonstrate excellence in narrative and character development, as well as appeal to the intended audience. In addition to the medal winner, the committee also designates several Honor Books each year. These titles are recognized for their merit and are considered outstanding contributions to childrens literature, though they do not receive the medal.
