Sounder
by William H. Armstrong
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Book Summary Information
Author: William H. ArmstrongBrand: Harper Collins Publishers
Illustrator: James Barkley
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1995-06-09
ISBN: 0064400204
Number of pages: 116
Publisher: HarperCollins
Book Reviews of Sounder
Book Review: Perseverance in Difficult Times
Summary: 5 Stars
Sometimes, we strive to achieve our goals and reach a point where exhaustion and opposition overwhelm us. We feel too tired to go on. However, if our want to succeed and gain pushes us onward, we persevere. Perseverance eventually brings success. In Sounder, by William H. Armstrong, each character reaches a point of despair and depletion. By showing perseverance, the characters, sooner or later, get through their situation successfully.
As a hard worker in the time subsequent to slavery, the boy in Sounder endured a lonely, fearful, and stressful life. He had to persevere because his family needed money. Their source of meat was scarce, and the boy's family lacked money to buy meat or anything else.
The father, therefore, stole a ham, for he had no other way to feed his family. A sheriff arrested the boy's father and shot his dog, Sounder, to prevent trouble. The shot wounded the dog so badly that he could no longer bark in the way that gave him his name.
Sounder was named after his unusual, sweet bark. It seemed to stretch out and roll in just the right way so that a listener would think someone was singing.
Now the boy had to fend for himself, his mother, younger siblings, and half-dead dog by working in the field and doing chores for white people to gain money.
The boy's father did not come home for a long time, so the boy went after him. After each search, the boy returned unsuccessful but endured and kept on.
The boy journeyed long and far to the prison farms, the jailhouse, and rock quarries to see his father, but he did not find him. Whenever he passed a white person's house, he thought he could feel their eyes staring at him through the curtains. Once, a white man threw a piece of iron at him. This was a blessing, though, because when the boy went to the schoolhouse to wash the cut the iron had caused, he met the schoolteacher who eventually taught him to read.
By the time the father finally returned, the boy was reading and had supported the family pretty well. The father had changed, however. His body had been damaged. He and Sounder had been hurt by the affects of slavery: racism and a system to keep blacks ignorant, poor, and dependant. However, their spirits of perseverance were not destroyed and the boy had hope of a better future because of his perseverance and education.
Through each of William H. Armstrong's characters, we can easily see that perseverance helps us overcome hardships. With perseverance, we can get past our limits into the world beyond.
Summary of Sounder
The Powerful Newbery Award-Winning Classic
A landmark in children's literature, winner of the 1970 Newbery Medal, and the basis of an acclaimed film, Sounder traces the keen sorrow and the abiding faith of a poor African-American boy in the 19th-century South. The boy's father isa sharecropper, struggling to feed his family in hard times. Night after night, he and his great coon dog, Sounder, return to the cabin empty-handed. Then, one morning, almost like a miracle, a sweet-smelling ham is cooking in the family's kitchen. At last the family will have a good meal. But that night, an angry sheriff and his deputies come, and the boy's life will never be the same.
A landmark in children's literature, winner of the 1970 Newbery Medal and the basis of an acclaimed film, Sounder traces the keen sorrow and the abiding faith of a poor African-American boy in the 19th-century South.
Sounder is no beauty. But as a coon dog, this loyal mongrel with his cavernous bark is unmatched. When the African American sharecropper who has raised Sounder from a pup is hauled off to jail for stealing a hog, his family must suffer their humiliation and crushing loss with no recourse. To make matters worse, in the fracas, Sounder is shot and disappears. The eventual return of a tattered and emaciated Sounder doesn't change the fact that the sharecropper's oldest son is forced to take on man's work to help support the family. His transition to adulthood is paved by the rocks and taunts hurled at him by convicts and guards as he searches for his father. But along this rough road he ultimately finds salvation as well.
William H. Armstrong's Newbery Award-winning novel quickly became a classic as a moving portrayal of resilience and hope in the face of profound human tragedy. Decades later, the bittersweet story still rings true, as strong-spirited individuals continue to battle the evil of prejudice. (Ages 9 to 12) --Emilie Coulter
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