Sounder

William H. Armstrong


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 is a sharecropper, struggling to feed his family in hard times. Night after night, he and his great coon do, 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.

1970 Newbery Honor Books:

Our Eddie (Sulamith Ish-Kishor)
The Many Ways of Seeing: An Introduction to the Pleasures of Art (Janet Gaylord Moore)
Journey Outside (Mary Q. Steele)


Last updated: December 2003

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