SHOPPING SELL !

The Book That I Have Been Searching For
As a teacher who loved and cherished books as a child, I am always searching for that “perfect” book to share with my students- one that will bring them the comfort or joy or wonder that I experienced when I could not wait to turn the pages of the next one. With The Underneath I finally found it! I have decided that I will share the book as a read-aloud in the fall, because it is the perfect book with which to launch a year of loving books and learning about what makes great writing. Thank you, Kathi Appelt for your beautiful gift!

The Underneath
The book is written with simplicity and directness that belie the deep emotions it arouses. A story of love and loss and redemption, it renders a cat, two kittens and a dog endearing and unforgetable. The one human in the story is incredibly repulsive, yet one understands why he is so, without being able to forgive him. A book not to be forgotten.

A Book that Defies Labels
I spend a lot of time trying to find books that my children will love. And, just when I think I’ve figured it out with an exceptional choice, my daughter will discard the book with one glance at the cover. I thought for sure I had a winner with The Underneath. It is simultaneously award winning and about the friendship between kittens and a hound dog. How could I go wrong?

Well, let’s just say that we were all surprised by this book. First of all, don’t let the promise of cuddly friendships between animals lull you. This book has very dark elements touching on themes of domestic violence, anger, animal abuse, alcoholism, starvation, evil, jealousy and revenge. However, despite these grave aspects of the book, it is ultimately a poetic tale that leaves you feeling fulfilled. It is a book that resists all labels - it is a dark book about true love, it is a suspenseful book that reads like poetry, and it is an ancient tale and a modern one. Some children’s books are page-turners. This one is not - it is a work of art, with all of the complexities of an innovative masterpiece.

If you read the reviews people either love it or hate it. When I mentioned we were reading The Underneath to the lady in the bookstore, she cringed. She stopped reading the book as soon as she got to the hound dog cruelly chained to the porch. She knows these award-nominating librarians all too well. They just love sad animal stories. According to her, stories of beloved pets dying of prolonged painful diseases make their day. I’m going to go back and recommend she give this book a second chance. It’s a shame if people pass this book up because of concerns with its dark themes. It ultimately delivers a redemption that makes you feel good about the love in this world. Plus, it is fantastic writing.

However, I wouldn’t recommend it to young children to read by themselves. For the right young teenager this could be the perfect book. They need to be a patient reader comfortable with a slower pace who is entranced by the darker themes. I read the entire book to my girls over a couple of weeks. Every night the girls looked forward to it, but neither one of them ever grabbed it and tried to finish it on their own. I’m glad because I enjoyed reading it to them. It is an exceptional tale.

- Jessica Wheeler

I hated this book
I feel that I should like this book - the reviews have been great, and it won a Newbery honor and a National Book Award. But I quite frankly did not like this book. First of all, the cover is very deceiving. Looking at the illustration of the sad-eyed hound dog and his two kitten companions, you’d think it would be the cute story of an unlikely animal family. While that is part of the story, the rest of the story is dark and depressing. The pregnant calico cat has been abandoned, driven out to the woods and left there by her owners. She finds the dog, Ranger, chained to the porch of a run down house. Ranger’s owner physically and emotionally abuses him, as he himself was abused as a child. There’s also a subplot about a thousand year old snake trapped in a jar that I’m just not even going to get into. The book jacket states that this is a “tale about the power of love.” More like a tale about child and animal abuse, abandonment, alcoholism, deceit and death. Most of the reviews praise the authors writing style, but I found it repetitive and boring. I felt impatient while I was reading it, like I was just waiting for it to be over. Perhaps children who like sad animal stories will like this tale, although it’s certainly not one that I would recommend. I think that the main audience for this book is adults who are interested in children’s literature. In fact, I did not find one review that was written by a child or young adult, which I think is telling.

A Wonderful Adventure!
I got this for my son but wound up reading it first. I absolutely loved it and couldn’t put it down. I don’t think it’s too ‘dark’ or at all inappropriate for children. I really enjoyed the almost poetic tones and the fable like story of Nightsong, Hawk Man and Grandmother!