The Underneath

By Kathi Appelt and David Small

There is nothing lonelier than a cat who has been loved, at least for a while, and then abandoned on the side of the road.

A calico cat, about to have kittens, hears the lonely howl of a chained-up hound deep in the backwaters of the bayou. She dares to find him in the forest, and the hound dares to befriend this cat, this feline, this creature he is supposed to hate. They are an unlikely pair, about to become an unlikely family. Ranger urges the cat to hide underneath the porch, to raise her kittens there because Gar-Face, the man living inside the house, will surely use them as alligator bait should he find them. But they are safe in the Underneath...as long as they stay in the Underneath.

Kittens, however, are notoriously curious creatures. And one kitten’s one moment of curiosity sets off a chain of events that is astonishing, remarkable, and enormous in its meaning. For everyone who loves Sounder, Shiloh, and The Yearling, for everyone who loves the haunting beauty of writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Flannery O’Connor, and Carson McCullers, Kathi Appelt spins a harrowing yet keenly sweet tale about the power of love—and its opposite, hate—the fragility of happiness and the importance of making good on your promises.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Release date: Jul 24, 2012
• ISBN: 9781416998587

Kathi Appelt

Kathi Appelt is the author of the Newbery Honoree, National Book Award finalist, and bestselling The Underneath as well as the National Book Award finalist The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, Maybe a Fox (with Alison McGhee), Keeper, and many picture books including Counting Crows and Max Attacks. She has two grown children and lives in College Station, Texas, with her husband. Visit her at KathiAppelt.com.

Book preview

There is nothing lonelier than a cat who has been loved, at least for a while, and then abandoned on the side of the road.

pictute

A calico cat, about to have kittens, hears the lonely howl of a chained-up hound deep in the backwaters of the bayou. They are an unlikely pair, about to become an unlikely family. Ranger urges the cat to hide underneath the porch, to raise her kittens there because Gar-Face, the man living inside the house, will surely use them as alligator bait should he find them. But they are safe in the Underneath . . . as long as they stay in the Underneath.

Kittens, however, are notoriously curious creatures. And one kitten’s one moment of curiosity sets off a chain of events that is astonishing, remarkable, and enormous in its meaning.

Visit the author at kathiappelt.com.

Cover design by Russell Gordon | Cover illustrations copyright © 2008 by David Small

Atheneum Books for Young Readers | Simon & Schuster, New York | Ages 10 up

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Praise for The Underneath

• NEWBERY HONOR BOOK •

• NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST •

• AMAZON.COM’S #1 BOOK OF THE YEAR •

• 2009 PEN USA LITERARY AWARD WINNER FOR CHILDREN’S LITERATURE •

• NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER •

• ALA NOTABLE BOOK •

*"Joining Natalie Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting as a rare example of youth fantasy with strong American underpinnings."

—Booklist, starred review

"The Underneath is as enchanting as a hummingbird, as magical as the clouds."

—Cynthia Kadohata, Newbery Medal-winning author of Kira-Kira

A magical tale of betrayal, revenge, love and the importance of keeping promises.—Kirkus Reviews

A mysterious and magical story; poetic yet loaded with suspense.

—Louis Sachar, Newbery Medal-winning author of Holes

[A] fine book . . . most of all distinguished by the originality of the story and the fresh beauty of its author’s voice—a natural for reading aloud.—Horn Book Magazine

Rarely do I come across a book that makes me catch my breath, that reminds me of why I wanted to be a writer. . . . A classic.

—Alison McGhee, author of the New York Times bestselling Someday

An extraordinary tale of epic scope.

—Los Angeles Times

"Kathi Appelt’s novel, The Underneath, reads like a ballad sung."

—Ashley Bryan, Hans Christian Andersen Award nominee and three-time Coretta Scott King Award medalist

[Exerts] an almost magnetic pull that draws the reader into the book’s trackless, treacherous world.

—The Wall Street Journal Online

"Every so often a literary work of surpassing beauty arrives in the unlikely guise of a book for children or young teens. There is a deep and inexplicable magic underlying the apparent simplicity of such works. From the gemlike Goodnight Moon to novels such as The Wind in the Willows or A Wrinkle in Time, children’s literature is that place where a young, open mind can catch life-changing glimpses of the majesty of the written word. Twin narratives, spinning like twin tornadoes, on course to merge into a perfect storm—and, if this critic can hazard such a prediction, into a modern classic."

—San Antonio Express—News

"Haunting in tone and resonance, The Underneath weaves a heartrending and magical tale that speaks to love and hope, loneliness and loss, ancestral forgiveness and a deep abiding reverence for the natural world that surrounds us, the ethereal world that entices our imagination and the real world that may bruise us, haunt us, but eventually set us free."

—The National Book Foundation

"Appelt in her debut novel has somehow managed to write a book that I’ve been describing to people as (and this is true) Watership Down meets The Incredible Journey meets Holes meets The Mouse and His Child."

—Elizabeth Bird/Fuse # 8

The

Underneath

ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Text copyright © 2008 by Kathi Appelt

Illustrations copyright © 2008 by David Small All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

Also available in an Atheneum Books forYoung Readers hardcover edition. Book design by Russell Gordon The text for this book is set in Bembo. The illustrations for this book are rendered in Prismacolor pencil.

1209 FFG

First Atheneum Books forYoung Readers paperback edition January 2010

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows: Appelt, Kathi, 1954–

The underneath/Kathi Appelt ; illustrated by David Small.

p. cm.

Summary: An old hound that has been chained up at his hateful owner’s run-down shack, and two kittens born underneath the house, endure separation, danger, and many other tribulations.

ISBN 978-1-4169-5058-5 (hc)

[1. Survival—Fiction. 2. Dogs—Fiction. 3. Cats—Fiction. 4. Bayous—Fiction.] I. Small, David, 1945– ill. II.Title.

PZ7.A6455Un 2008

[Fic]—dc22

2007031969

ISBN 978-1-4169-5059-2 (pbk)

ISBN-13: 978-1-41699-858-7 (eBook)

For Greg and Cynthia, because there is love

and then there are cats,

and aren’t the two the same

—K.A.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

Chapter 63

Chapter 64

Chapter 65

Chapter 66

Chapter 67

Chapter 68

Chapter 69

Chapter 70

Chapter 71

Chapter 72

Chapter 73

Chapter 74

Chapter 75

Chapter 76

Chapter 77

Chapter 78

Chapter 79

Chapter 80

Chapter 81

Chapter 82

Chapter 83

Chapter 84

Chapter 85

Chapter 86

Chapter 87

Chapter 88

Chapter 89

Chapter 90

Chapter 91

Chapter 92

Chapter 93

Chapter 94

Chapter 95

Chapter 96

Chapter 97

Chapter 98

Chapter 99

Chapter 100

Chapter 101

Chapter 102

Chapter 103

Chapter 104

Chapter 105

Chapter 106

Chapter 107

Chapter 108

Chapter 109

Chapter 110

Chapter 111

Chapter 112

Chapter 113

Chapter 114

Chapter 115

Chapter 116

Chapter 117

Chapter 118

Chapter 119

Chapter 120

Chapter 121

Chapter 122

Chapter 123

Chapter 124

Acknowledgments

Reading Group Guide

1

THERE IS NOTHING lonelier than a cat who has been loved, at least for a while, and then abandoned on the side of the road. A small calico cat. Her family, the one she lived with, has left her in this old and forgotten forest, this forest where the rain is soaking into her soft fur.

How long has she been walking? Hours? Days? She wasn’t even sure how she got here, so far from the town where she grew up. Something about a car, something about a long drive. And now here she is. Here in this old forest where the rain slipped between the branches and settled into her fur. The pine needles were soft beneath her feet; she heard the water splash onto the puddles all around, noticed the evening roll in, the sky grow darker.

She walked and walked, farther and farther from the red dirt road. She should have been afraid. She should have been concerned about the lightning, slicing the drops of rain in two and electrifying the air. She should have been worried in the falling dark. But mostly she was lonely.

She walked some more on the soft pine needles until at last she found an old nest, maybe a squirrel’s, maybe a skunk’s, maybe a porcupine’s; it’s hard to tell when a nest has gone unused for a long time, and this one surely had. She was grateful to find it, an old nest, empty, a little dry, not very, but somewhat out of the rain, away from the slashes of lightning, here at the base of a gnarled tupelo tree, somewhere in the heart of the piney woods. Here, she curled up in a tight ball and waited, purred to her unborn babies. And the trees, the tall and kindly trees, watched over her while she slept, slept the whole night through.

2

AHH, THE TREES. On the other side of the forest, there is an old loblolly pine. Once, it was the tallest tree in the forest, a hundred feet up it reached, right up to the clouds, right beneath the stars. Such a tree. Now broken in half, it stands beside the creek called the Little Sorrowful.

Trees are the keepers of stories. If you could understand the languages of oak and elm and tallow, they might tell you about another storm, an earlier one, twenty-five years ago to be exact, a storm that barreled across the sky, filling up the streams and bayous, how it dipped and charged, rushed through the boughs. Its black clouds were enormous, thick and heavy with the water it had scooped up from the Gulf of Mexico due south of here, swirling its way north, where it sucked up more moisture from the Sabine River to the east, the river that divides Texas and Louisiana.

This tree, a thousand years old, huge and wide, straight and true, would say how it lifted its branches and welcomed the heavy rain, how it shivered as the cool water ran down its trunk and washed the dust from its long needles. How it sighed in that coolness.

But then, in that dwindling of rain, that calming of wind, that solid darkness, a rogue bolt of lightning zipped from the clouds and struck. Bark flew in splinters, the trunk sizzled from the top of the crown to the deepest roots; the bolt pierced the very center of the tree.

A tree as old as this has a large and sturdy heart, but it is no match for a billion volts of electricity. The giant tree trembled for a full minute, a shower of sparks and wood fell to the wet forest floor. Then it stood completely still. A smaller tree might have jumped, might have spun and spun and spun until it crashed onto the earth. Not this pine, this loblolly pine, rooted so deep into the clay beside the creek; it simply stood beneath the blue-black sky while steam boiled from the gash sixty feet up, an open wound. This pine did not fall to the earth or slide into the creek. Not then.

And not now. It still stands. Most of its branches have cracked and fallen. The upper stories have long ago tumbled to the forest floor. Some of them have slipped into the creek and drifted downstream, down to the silver Sabine, down to the Gulf of Mexico. Down.

But the trunk remains, tall and hollow, straight and true. Right here on the Little Sorrowful, just a mile or so from a calico cat, curled inside her dry nest, while the rain falls all around.

3

MEANWHILE, DEEP BENEATH the hard red dirt, held tightly in the grip of the old tree’s roots, something has come loose. A large jar buried centuries ago. A jar made from the same clay that lines the bed of the creek, a vessel with clean lines and a smooth surface, whose decoration was etched by an artist of merit. A jar meant for storing berries and crawdads and clean water, not for being buried like this far beneath the ground, held tight in the web of the tree’s tangled roots. This jar. With its contents: A creature even older than the forest itself, older than the creek, the last of her kind. This beautiful jar, shaken loose in the random strike of lightning that pierced the tree’s heart and seared downward into the tangled roots. Ever since, they have been loosening their grip.

Trapped, the creature has waited. For a thousand years she has slipped in and out of her deep, deep sleep, stirred in her pitch-black prison beneath the dying pine. Sssssooooonnnn, she whispered into the deep and solemn dark, my time will come. Then she closed her eyes and returned to sleep.

4

IT WASN’T THE chirring of the mourning doves that woke the calico cat, or the uncertain sun peeking through the clouds, or even the rustling of a nearby squirrel. No, it was the baying of a nearby hound. She had never heard a song like it, all blue in its shape, blue and tender, slipping through the branches, gliding on the morning air. She felt the ache of it. Here was a song that sounded exactly the way she felt.

Oh, I woke up on this bayou,

Got a chain around my heart.

Yes, I’m sitting on this bayou,

Got a chain tied ’round my heart.

Can’t you see I’m dyin’?

Can’t you see I’m cryin’?

Can’t you throw an old dog a bone?

Oh, I woke up, it was rainin’,

But it was tears came fallin’ down.

Yes, I woke up, it was rainin’,

But it was tears came fallin’ down.

Can’t you see I’m tryin’?

Can’t you hear my cryin’?

Can’t you see I’m all alone?

Can’t you throw this old dog a bone?

She cocked her ears to see which direction it came from. Then she stood up and followed its bluesy notes, deeper and deeper into the piney woods. Away from the road, from the old, abandoned nest, away from the people who had left her here with her belly full of kittens. She followed that song.

picture

5

FOR CATS, A hound is a natural enemy. This is the order of things. Yet how could the calico cat be afraid of a hound who sang, whose notes filled the air with so much longing? But when she got to the place where the hound sang, she knew that something was wrong.

She stopped.

In front of her sat a shabby frame house with peeling paint, a house that slumped on one side as if it were sinking into the red dirt. The windows were cracked and grimy. There was a rusted pickup truck parked next to it, a dark puddle of thick oil pooled beneath its undercarriage. She sniffed the air. It was wrong, this place. The air was heavy with the scent of old bones, of fish and dried skins, skins that hung from the porch like a ragged curtain.

Wrong was everywhere.

She should turn around, she should go away, she should not look back. She swallowed. Perhaps she had taken the wrong path? What path should she take? All the paths were the same. She felt her kittens stir. It surely wouldn’t be safe to stay here in this shabby place.

She was about to turn around, when there it was again—the song, those silver notes, the ones that settled just beneath her skin. Her kittens stirred again, as if they, too, could hear the beckoning song. She stepped closer to the unkempt house, stepped into the overgrown yard. She cocked her ears and let the notes lead her, pull her around the corner. There they were, those bluesy notes.

Oh, I woke up, it was rainin’,

But it was tears came fallin’ down.

Yes, I woke up, it was rainin’,

But it was tears came fallin’ down.

Can’t you see I’m tryin’?

Can’t you hear my cryin’?

Can’t you see I’m all alone?

Can’t you throw this old dog a bone?

Then she realized, this song wasn’t calling for a bone, it was calling for something else, someone else. Another step, another corner. And there he was, chained to the corner of the back porch. His eyes were closed, his head held back, baying.

She should be afraid, she should turn around and run, she should climb the nearest tree. She did not. Instead, she simply walked right up to this baying hound and rubbed against his front legs. She knew the answer to his song, for if she could bay, her song would be the same.

Here.

Right here.

Ranger.

6

LIGHTNING IS NOT the only thing that strikes. On the very same night twenty-five years ago when that single blinding bolt struck the old loblolly pine beside the creek, there was a boy. A boy who prowled the mean streets of south Houston in the run-down neighborhoods next to the Ship Channel.

A boy who embraced the darkness, darkness filled with huge, gray wharf rats that scurried along the rafters beneath the tar-coated piers of the docks—scavengers; once he caught one in a crab trap and kept it there, hidden, watched it slowly die from hunger and thirst. Watched it while it twisted against the wooden slats of the trap, desperate in its hunger, fierce in its desperation.

Here was this boy whose father worked on the wharves, his shoulders broad and thick from loading and unloading the ships all day, who spent his free evenings at the Deep Channel Bar, a place that served only dockworkers and the women who served them, a man who drank the hard-edged vodka brought in from Russia and the bitter gin from England, who stumbled home, just as hard-edged and bitter as the vodka and gin.

This boy, a boy who sneered at kindness, even from his mother, his mother who loved flowers and birds.

When she finally left him and his hard-edged father, the boy

Reviews for The Underneath

[devilwrites · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's been forever since I've read a book that's truly considered Children's Lit. Okay, so forever really means a couple of years, but the last time I read a children's lit book, it was because I had to for school. Not so here.Here, we have a title recommended to me by the wondrous a good friend, who had the title recommended to her by her grad school mentor. Me, being practically unable to resist a book about cats, promptly put the sucker on my wishlist. In fact, I almost bought it back in June, but I was worried it might show up as a graduation gift, so I waited.Since it didn't, I picked it up as soon as I saw it again. I also made it my priority to read it as soon as possible, and hey, with all the dark stuff I'm reading lately, I'm glad. I had a little trouble getting used to the prose, but it's a GOOD book, multi-layered in folklore and myth, and there's a certain poetry to the prose. It almost reminds me of something Ursula K. Le Guin would write (I'm remembering her CATWINGS tales). The premise: Despite the dangers of a house in the middle of nowhere, an abandoned calico cat, pregnant with kittens, is drawn to the beauty of an old hound's song. The hound, Ranger, is chained to the tilting house of his awful master, Gar Face, and protects his new friend and her children from the horrors that await then should they leave the safety of the underneath of the house. Entwined with this tale is also that of a lamina, Grandmother Moccasin, trapped inside a jar at the base of a loblolly pine for a thousand years. She tells her tale of love and betrayal, and waits for the chance to be set free once more.The full review is in my LJ, and fair warning, as it does contain spoilers. Comments and discussion are always welcome, and I'd love to hear what others have thought of this! :)REVIEW: Kathi Appelt's THE UNDERNEATHHappy Reading! :)

[jothebookgirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very strange an a prettygood read. I didn't totally understand why the snakes were entwined in the story. Gar Face truly was a cruel person. I really wanted more detail when the gator ate him.

[heatherlinc · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the most beautifully written books I have read in a long time. The use of words is lyrical, the characters varied and interesting, and the illustrations delightful. I would love to read this book aloud to a group of primary school children so they could immerse themselves in the beauty of the words and become enchanted with the magic of the story. This book is a winner!!!

[vhartpowers · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The beginning is a little confusing as each chapter is about different characters:
there's a boy abused by his father and his mother ran away, he becomes Gar Face
then a cat abandoned by her family who is expecting kittens and hears the mournful song of a hound dog
the hound dog belongs to Gar Face and his name is Ranger
there's an alligator king hunted by Gar Face and Grandmother Moccasin who is a shape shifter and she is searching for her daughter
and there's also the story of the trees
Everyone's story comes together interwoven like the branches of the bayou where it takes place along the border of Texas and Louisiana.
The characters and descriptions are amazing. I read this book aloud to my young son and he enjoyed the story of the animals in the Underneath more than the story of the humans.
The book is suspenseful and you don't know what will happen until the very end when it actually happens.
AMAZING story and a family treasure.

[aarchamb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this book by Appelt! The story begins with a mother cat looking for a place to have her kittens. She wanders into the wrong part of the swamp but has no choice but to have her kittens under an old house. Fortunately, she meets a nice hound dog who is tied to the house by a long metal chain. The story weaves in and out, juxtaposing current and past events to bring the story to a truly amazing climax by the end of the book. Great read-aloud for kids in upper elem! I recommend it to any parent looking for something other than vampires and zombies for their children to read.

[laytonwoman3rd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

From the juvenile fiction department, a most remarkable book. One I'm sure my own daughter would have loved, but which might be a little intense for the average 10-year-old. (Then again, what do I know about the average 10-year-old these days?) It is the story of a pair of orphaned kittens and a chained-up old hound dog, all living in The Underneath of a tilted decrepit house occupied by the soulless trapper, Gar Face. It is also the marvelous, mystical story of ancient shape-shifters--Hawk Man, Night Song, Grandmother Moccasin--and how a thousand years disappear to bring all these creatures together. It's about love and loyalty, cruelty and pain, sorrow and promises, and finally, love again. About two thirds of the way through, it needed some editing; there were a number of sections that served only to bring one of the characters back to our attention, without moving the story along. But the last 40 pages or so were as suspenseful and satisfying as anything I have ever read.Review written January 2010

[amandabock-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The animal cruelty was entirely too much for me. I really think that the cover of this book gives you absolutely no preparation for what's inside. It looks like a James Howe or Dick King-Smith book, and yet it was so upsetting that I actually flipped to the end of the book to see if the illustrations would tell me if the main characters lived or died.

Yes, it is cleverly written, if a tad overly-reminiscent of [book: Because of Winn-Dixie] and [book: Tale of Desperaux].

I would not be comfortable recommending this to anyone.

[abigailadams26 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In alternating chapters and using alternating perspectives, Kathi Appelt spins a heartbreaking tale in The Underneath, following various creatures caught up in a dance of cruelty and kindness, love and hate, community and solitude. Weaving in and around one another, the various story strands here include that of a tiny calico cat, pregnant and abandoned by her human family; the hound-dog Ranger, chained up for years by his abusive owner, who in his loneliness adopts the cat and warns her of the dangers of his small world; and the cat's kittens, Puck and Sabine, who are born and raised in the eponymous 'underneath,' the space beneath the derelict shack where Ranger's owner lives. Here too is the story of that owner, the human Gar-face, an angry and malicious soul whose inner nature matches his deformed face, itself the product of the terrible abuse he suffered as a boy. The ancient Alligator King, the cunning survivor of a thousand years in the bayou; and Grandmother Moccasin, a lamia - a mythological being who is half snake, half human - trapped in a buried jar for that same time, also contribute their stories to the mix. Scenes from the present alternate with flashbacks to the past, as Grandmother's rejection of love in favor of vengeance, many years before, which resulted in the destruction of her daughter's family, is paralleled by the struggles of Ranger's canine-feline family to stay together despite seemingly impossible odds. Terrible things happen in The Underneath, such terrible things, and so many of them, that I often found myself wondering, whilst reading, whether it would make a good selection for young readers. Certainly, those of a more sensitive nature will be traumatized by the cruelty to be found within these pages. There is a darkness to many of the characters, especially Gar Face and Grandmother Moccasin, that can be very hard to take, particularly as it is so unrelieved. Although Grandmother Moccasin does have her moment of redemption toward the close of the book, Gar Face, the only human character, is depicted as wholly evil, even when a still child. There aren't really any happy endings here, and although a few characters do escape total destruction, most die during the course of the book. Despite the dark and disturbing content, this is a beautifully written book, one with a poetic cadence that I found intensely rewarding, as I continued to read. Each chapter opens with a philosophical observation, or a note on the realities of living in the world, which does sometimes give the book a contemplative feeling, although the visceral experience of suffering is never too far removed. "The world is made of patterns, one chapter begins, continuing: "The rings of a tree. The raindrops on the dusty ground. The path the sun follows from morning to dusk." Another opens with the observation that "Anger has its own hue, its own dark shade that coats everything with a thin, brittle veneer." Appelt spends a great deal of time considering the lives of trees, and their role in the story, and one of my favorite chapters begins: "Trees are the arbiter of time, gathering up the hours and days and years, keeping them in their circular rings."This book seems to have really divided readers and reviewers, with some praising its poetry and its depiction of tragic realities, while others bemoan its false promises - that cute, winsome, deceptive cover, with its promise of a sweeter story! - and lack of hope. For my part, I am glad to have read it, and think that for some children it could be an immensely moving experience. I myself would have devoured it as a girl, and pondered its story of suffering and (in some cases) survival long after. I think that it's a book which improves the further in you get, not because it becomes less dark, but because the beauty of the language and the continuing striving of the characters against the soul-crushing tragedy of life, prove so powerful.

[fingerpost_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The more I think about this book, the more I dislike it. To begin with, I feel that the packaging ripped me off. The picture on the front is of a hound dog and two kittens. The blurb on the back of the book describes a story about a hound dog and kittens. The book has on the cover a Nation Book Award finalist seal and a Newbery Children's Honor book seal. How a book so focused on meanness, cruelty, violence and misery can be considered a candidate for a Newbery award is beyond me. How a book with so many weaknesses could be a candidate for a National Book award is beyond me. There's a lot of critical praise in the inside too... I don't get it.To begin with, the story of the hound dog and the cats makes up about one third of the book. The other two thirds are about a thousand year old snake (yes, you read that right) and a thousand year old alligator, and some assorted other characters from a thousand years ago, who are long dead. These other characters have nothing to do with the dog/cat story, and the snake/alligator parts do not intersect with the dog/cat story until about the last 15 pages. So you really have two almost totally unrelated stories. Both depressing. Both filled with cruelty and violence.The thousand year old snake/alligator portion of the book never set well with me. There was really no explanation of how these two animals managed to live for a thousand years. The author even asks at one point, How does Grandmother moccasin live for a thousand years sealed in a jar?" But she never bothers to answer that question. The alligator is at least roaming about eating. The dog and cats (the only characters in the book that you could possibly like) really don't have much of a story. The cats live with the dog under the house where he is chained up, owned by a sadistic sociopath. Eventually he catches the mother and one of the two kittens and hurls them in a river to drown. The mother dies. The kitten lives. Then for about a hundred pages, the lost kitten wonders how to get back to the dog and his sister. The sister wonders how to take care of the dog. Nothing happens. They just keep pondering these two questions on and on and on.Applet's writing style is pretentious. I grew painfully tired of reading about what the trees were thinking, and of paragraphs that ended like this: She did not do this. She did not. And of the snake's tediously repeated thoughts. At the very end, the wrap-up was 100% out of character for the snake. When the author has spent over 300 pages telling us that this is what her character is like, then having her suddenly and inexplicably behave in a totally different way in the last ten pages of book felt absurdly forced.No, I really can't fully express how disappointed I was... and I tend to be a generous and forgiving reviewer.

[mom2lnb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Underneath is a middle school fantasy novel that tells two different stories simultaneously that eventually converge into one cohesive whole. In the present, Mama the calico cat is pregnant when she’s abandoned by the side of the road in the east Texas bayou. All alone, she hears the plaintive baying of a hound that speaks to her, so she follows his voice to a tumble-down shack in the middle of nowhere. She befriends the poor, old hound named Ranger, who has been chained to the porch for a long time. He urges her to stay in The Underneath, the space under the house where they’ll be safe from Gar Face, the mean man who lives there and who will no doubt try to use the sweet cat as alligator bait if he finds her. There Mama gives birth to two kittens, Sabine and Puck, which she and Ranger care for, telling them to always stay in The Underneath. But as Puck gets older, his curiosity gets the best of him, and one day he leaves the safety of The Underneath with disastrous consequences that leave him separated from his family and fighting for survival as he struggles to keep a promise he made to Mama.Alongside the story of the dog and three cats is another narrative that takes place a thousand years ago in the same area, told in the style of a Native American myth from the perspective of the ancient trees that see all. It tells the story of Grandmother Moccasin, who is a lamia, half-snake, half-human. She once took on her human form and fell in love with a human man who betrayed her, so she retook her snake form and can never become human again, for once an enchanted creature such as this returns to their animal form, that’s how they’ll stay for eternity. She wandered the bayou with her only friend being an enormous hundred-foot-long alligator. She was lonely for a long time until she crossed paths with another young lamia, Night Song, who became her adopted daughter. But when Night Song grew up, she fell in love with Hawk Man, and the two of them took on their human forms to be together, leaving Grandmother feeling once again betrayed. From then on, she lived in anger and resentment until a selfish and fateful decision led to terrible consequences that ended with Grandmother being imprisoned in a clay jar for the next thousand years. In the present, she’s still alive in that jar buried deep beneath the roots of an old loblolly pine that sits on the banks of the Little Sorrowful creek, and in the nearby bayou, King Alligator still lives, too, presenting a temptation to Gar Face, who views him as the ultimate prize. The story of these animals and magical creatures eventually weave together in surprising ways.The Underneath is aimed at middle-school readers with the back of the book stating for ages 10 and up. I definitely think it would be best suited to this age group. While younger kids might be tempted by the picture of the sad hound dog and cute kittens on the cover, it does cover some challenging themes that they might have difficulty processing. Gar Face is a miserable excuse for a human being, but he didn’t become as mean as he is in a vacuum. There’s a flashback scene where he’s abused by his father, which leads to him running away and ending up in the swamp where he now lives. Untreated injuries from the abuse is what caused his face to become deformed and him to be known by the nickname Gar Face. He’s also implied to be an alcoholic, drinking heavily and frequently due to his unhappiness. Grandmother Moccasin is angry for different reasons, and she allows her bitterness to fester until she doesn’t tell her daughter the truth about something, leading to irrevocable consequences. However, she is redeemed in the end, and I think her earlier actions could be used as an object lesson for kids about the dangers of lying and selfishness. Three characters die, one out of selflessness, one of a broken heart, and one out of greed. Death can be a difficult topic for kids, but I think it can be helpful to process it through the safe lens of a story. The reasons that lead to each character’s death could be used as talking points as well. The issue that might be the most difficult, though, is the animal abuse and neglect that occurs throughout the story. Gar Face seems to only view animals as commodities or prizes, and even a pet, once it’s outlived its usefulness, is no longer important to him. Poor Ranger has been chained to the house for a long time with an untreated injury, he often isn’t fed properly, and later in the story he’s further abused for daring to defend his only friend. Each of the cats ends up suffering in various ways because of Gar Face’s actions, too. I don’t want to make the story sound too bad or scary, though, because the nature of it allows other characters to step up and show goodness, and it has a positive ending. Most middle-schoolers could probably handle the material. I’d just say know your child’s sensitivity level before allowing them to read it, and that it might best be read with parent or educator guidance. There’s even a helpful reading guide at the back with discussion questions and suggested activities.I’d have to say that The Underneath didn’t end up being quite what I expected. The cover image and the book blurb make it seem like the story is all about Ranger and the kitties, perhaps something akin to The Incredible Journey, so the whole storyline about Grandmother Moccasin, Night Song, and the other enchanted creature characters was a bit of a surprise. I enjoyed each part of the narrative individually, but at first, I wasn’t entirely sure what they had to do with one another. However, I can say that they do eventually merge in an interesting way. The book was a Newberry Honor Book and a National Book Award finalist, and I can see why. The writing itself is quite beautiful and has a lyrical quality to it that almost made it the equivalent of literary fiction for children. Because of this, the style may not grab some kids, and reluctant readers may find it to be a harder read. Although there is adventure within the story, it’s rather slow-paced, but it still held my attention and probably would appeal to a certain subset of kids who are more literary-minded readers. I already outlined some of the possible detractors, but there are many important and thought-provoking themes as well that could have a positive impact on kids, too, if properly explored. There’s the concept of what it means to be a family and how some families are those of our choosing rather than biology. Ranger and the cats make a very odd family, but a family they are, and a very compelling one, at that. Their love for one another is sweet, pure, and unmistakable. In fact, the power of love—and hate—and how these emotions can affect lives for good or ill is palpable throughout. There’s also the idea that promises shouldn’t be made lightly, and that once made, one should do everything in their power to follow through with it, even if it’s challenging. There are additional positive themes of determination, selflessness, empathy, kindness, and sharing even if you have little. I think that sometimes it takes seeing the struggle and how bad the world can be to really see the good in it, and for this reason, I think the story could have great value to kids. I would recommend it to middle-schoolers and up, even adults like myself, who would be interested in an accessible story that has deeper meaning and a lovely writing style.

[cheryl_in_cc_nv · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Ok, if you're looking for a cute animal story, or if you need straight-forward prose and a plot that moves right along, look elsewhere. If you enjoy beautiful metaphors and poetic rhythms and tragedy and glory and myth, read this book. Whether you're 9 or 99, you can enjoy and be moved by it. It's a little bit like Neil Gaiman, actually.

About the repetition in this that some GR readers complain about - think of the way the chorus in a pop song is repeated, or the theme in a jazz improv. I personally think the book is gorgeous, and worth a re-read.

[drmom62 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Very repetitive & sad.

[salsabrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The shadowy bayou is an evocative setting for this haunting story of love and evil, past and present. As the four or five different storylines build, there's always the sense that something is hidden from view, not yet ready to reveal itself, which adds to the suspense of the story. There's animal cruelty in here, thanks to the bitter Gar Face, and Grandmother Moccasin's simmering resentment and fury, but there is also a lot of love, loyalty and affection during bad times.

[mirrani_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is exceptionally written, well deserving of the acclaim and award nominations it has received. It is very sad and difficult in some ways, yet it is somehow filled with hope.There are two parts to this book; the dog and cats who are terrorized by an abusive man who lives in the house above them, and the mythological history of the other creatures in the area. The two halves of this book slowly merge until the two parts become one, something I found fitting since the mythology dealt with shape shifting entities that were basically two forms in one character.The main theme in this book revolves around being alone, finding companionship in that loneliness, and learning that even on your own you can find ways to push through to accomplish things that seem impossible. There is a lot of "reality" in this book, so be prepared to face cruelty and abuse of animals head on, but there is enough hope that it balances beautifully.

[rosa.mill · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book tells two stories at the same time that finally come together at the end. The reader learns about a mother cat and her two kittens that live with a hound dog chained to a house. The cat and her kittens hide from the owner under the house to stay safe. We also follow Grandmother Moccasin, a mystical creature stuck in a jar for a thousand years buried under a tree. The story was nice but the narrator was too soothing and I would get way too relaxed and stop paying attention. I think this would have gone better if read as a physical book.

[verkruissen · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I thought the book was pretty good. It's about a hound dog and a calico cat that become friends. The cat has two kittens, and they become a little family. There is alot of mystical elements to the story with some history of the Caddo Indians as well. Your heart really goes out to these poor animals that have been unloved and abandoned by society.

[kimjd_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful, lyrical writing... evocative descriptions of ageless bayous... the way that Kathi Appelt played with time and her intertwining of legends across years... this book swept me up in the best kind of magic.

[katie-2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

impressionistic Southern animal story... not convinced... language either mesmerizing or annoying...

[satyridae · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I found Appelt's comma-infused writing repetitive and very distracting. The writing, it was so full, round, globular, and it distracted. Distracted, it did. Yes. Very distracted, I was.

Aside from that (which actually had me cursing aloud at more than one spot) I found the story to be very Newbery-like. With that many tragedies and the plethora of dead/evil parents, how can the committee resist? It's a shoe-in.

I can see that the story was essentially sweet and ended in a hopeful fashion, but I was not particularly moved by it.

I think maybe I need a break from fiction, I'm sensing a trend wherein I become crankier as each book goes by.

[scote23 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book a lot, although I wasn't sure I was going to at first. It interweaves the story of a hound dog and cats with a mystical bayou story of a mysterious voice and an alligator. I don't want to say much more than that, because I think one of the best parts of the story is discovering all of that for yourself.

[pussreboots · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt was her debut novel. In print form, it was illustrated by David Small. I happened to listen to the audio but in retrospect, I wish I had read it instead.The book opens with a very pregnant calico cat being dropped off in a Texas bayou. As she looks for a safe place to bear her kittens, she hears the song of a chained up hound dog, Ranger. They become friends and he provides for a safe place (albeit temporarily) for her and her twin kittens — a boy (Puck) and girl (Sabine).Ranger's sadness stems from the chain around his neck and a years old wound from the time his owner, Gar Face, shot him. Gar Face who's two main goals in life are drinking and shooting things, is the most dangerous threat awaiting the calico and her kittens. As with so many animal themed Newbery books, an animal dies. It is an unfortunate part of the realism of this book, and might be a difficult story for some children.Mixed into the story of the kittens and Ranger trying to survive life with Gar Face, is an older tale — a magical one involving shape-shifters who have been part of the Bayou since its earliest days. One of them is Grandmother Moccasin, a creature sleeping in the base of an old tree. She is grieving for loved ones long since lost and she aches for revenge.The parallel stories are told in a poetic voice. There is repetition to set the mood and tempo of the book. And here, though, is where I had trouble with the audio — the performer chose to read bayou by the regional Texas pronunciation, bai-oh, but the poetry of the book would fit better with the more widely used bai-you. Even though the choice is regionally correct it was jarring.

[jenj5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

April 2010 COTC Book Club selection.

A pregnant calico cat abandoned in the bayou. An old hound dog chained to a slowly decaying house. The Alligator King, as big as a monster, and the terrible man who chases him - Gar-Face.

With lyrical language, Appelt brings these characters together as events are inexorably set in motion by the birth of two kittens - Puck and Sabine. Twined through the story of how a hound dog, a calico cat and her kittens become a family are two other stories: the story of how the evil Gar-Face came to this place in the bayou and an older story yet of an ancient creature, part human, part snake, of how her family betrayed her and of how she waits for revenge.

Short chapters make this a quick read, but be prepared – Gar-Face is truly evil. The Underneath is a powerful portrait of how devastating loss can be and how love can redeem and give meaning to a life.

The short chapters and lovely phrases make this an ideal read-aloud, but Appelt doesn't pull any punches. This may not be the right book for sensitive animal lovers. David Small's pencil illustrations are placed sporadically but clearly evoke the characters and bayou setting. The intertwining stories and poetic language may be tough for struggling readers to navigate despite the short chapters.

Highly recommended but be prepared to cry!

Previously read June 30, 2008.

[brikayama · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This story is unlike any story I have read. I think it is appropriate for middle and high school students, it is too dark for younger students. I felt a pain in my heart even for the death of Gar Face. The Underneath is about friendship, family, love, and hate. It is about good and evil that exists in the world. It touches upon animal cruelty and sacrifice. It was different, but with a nice theme.

[poetontheone · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

My neighbor wanted me to me borrow this and read it, but I was hesitant. I didn't want to read a book about cats. I don't like cats too much. This isn't about cats though. It's about a mother cat, two kittens, and an old hound on a chain who sings the blues. It's also about a Lamia snake and her daughter, who leaves her snake skin for a lover, and leaves her mother. It is about wanting to belong, and trying to find your way. It's a simple book, but it's not. The prose, at its best, possesses a dark and almost Southern Gothic atmosphere. The gnarled face Gar in his corroded cabin clutching his rifle and sucking down black rum, keeping his poor old dog on a chain, and terrorizing the dog and his new found cat family, is the antagonist of the novel. So many reviews of this book, by parents, complain of this book being too dark and confusing. One review I read even complained of the fact that there were allusions to magic in the book, and that their family "did not involve themselves in magic". So much negative reception of this novel, if not from legitimate criticism of how its narrative does sometimes drag and suffer redundancy, are from close minded and poorly educated parents looking for "wholesome books" who have no concept of the rich depths of literary and folkloric traditions, from which this book clearly borrows, and succeeds by doing so.

[karenball_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Newbery Honor Medal 2009Great animal story, set in the east Texas swamps! Ranger is a hound dog, owned by the cruel Gar Face. Gar Face accidentally shot Ranger in the leg while hunting a bobcat one night, and he blames the dog for getting in the way. Ranger has been chained to the back porch of the rundown shack where they live ever since. An abandoned calico cat finds her way to the shack after having been dumped on a back road at night, and Ranger befriends her and keeps her safe under the porch (the Underneath), away from Gar Face, who would use her as alligator bait if he discovered her. The cat gives birth to two tiny kittens, named Puck and Sabine, and Ranger finally has a little family of his own. Kittens are curious, and disaster strikes, separating the family, but supernatural forces are also at play here through ancient Caddo Indian legends of trees, snakes, birds, and a monstrously big creature known as the Alligator King. Beautifully written, this is for everyone.

[allisonmclean · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book wasn't what I thought it would be at all. It is a children's book but it was very different than any book I've ever read for this age group. The tone and voice of the narrator reminded me of one that you see often in books for adults and young adults, but I was surprised to see it used here for children. I'm not sure if it works as a children's book.

[bugsyboog · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This mythical fantasy book weaves together two good stories. One story involves Grandmother Moccasin who has been entrapped in a jar in the roots of an archaic tree. She has been nursing her rage against the world because her daughter and only companion left behind her snake form to make a life as a human. When Grandmother Moccasin becomes a tree, she plays a pivotal role in the climax of the other story, one set in modern day times. In this tale, an old abused hound dog, named Ranger, befriends a mother cat and her two kittens, Puck and Sabine. Ranger’s owner, Garface, is the combination of everything evil and disgusting in the world. Garface kills the mother cat, which leads to Puck being separated from his family. He frantically tries to find his way back, maturing and growing all the time. Thankfully, the story ends well.I love animal stories, but the sadness in this one overwhelmed me. The happy but violent ending almost wasn’t worth the long torturous journey to get there. The man in this book was positively revolting, and almost everything he hid disgusted me. I will gladly read another book by this author, as the text was beautifully done. The setting and the descriptions were excellent, but the subject matter of this book was just too dark, too dismal, too sad. I hope that author can turn to a slightly more uplifting story next time.

[bell7_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Several stories strand together in this poetic tale. An abandoned, pregnant cat takes refuge with a lonely hound. A drunk called Gar Face - the owner of the hound - goes hunting daily and becomes obsessed with a huge alligator. A snake trapped in a jar under an old pine tree bides her time waiting for... what?I started listening to this on audio, and while I liked the reader, I soon realized that the tone of the story was too contemplative for me to listen well and pay attention. Yet the story is meant to be read aloud. The sound of the words and phrases and sentences (and sentence fragments) beg for listening. It's the sort of book that a child might have to be begged to read, but a good reader could have them sitting spell-bound as the various story lines are revealed and eventually come together in a taut climax.

[bnbharper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Summary: An abandoned calico cat hears a dog howling in the distance. The cat goes to search for the dog and finds the dog, Ranger. Ranger convinces the cat stay in the underneath so, the Dog owner, Gar-Face will not feed the kitty to the alligators. The abandoned Cat ends up having the kittens but the tough part is keeping the kittens in the underneath. Response: I love animal books as you probably can tell by the list of books I chose for this assignment. I am a big fan of the book, "Shiloh", which is still my favorite but this was a good book also. Theme/Connections: Animals; Love; Friendship

[sheilacornelisse · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I found this book a little disjointed. Its a confusing combination of the mythological and reality. The mere existence of a thousand-year-old snake and alligator is unbelievable. The author should have stuck to the main story of the struggles of the hound dog and cats as the try to survive the cruelty of Gar Face. I have my doubts as to whether this book would appeal to children.