9780061146510
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Sounder audiobook

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Sounder Audiobook Summary

The Newbery Medal-winning classic novel about the courage and faith–and the love of a dog–that give a family strength in the face of inhumanity.

The boy knows that times are tough for his family. Every night, his father goes out hunting with their great coon dog, Sounder, to try to put food on the table. But even with the little they bring back, there is still never enough for the family to eat.

When the boy awakens one morning to a sweet-smelling ham on the table, it seems like a blessing. But soon, the sheriff and his deputies come to the house and take the boy’s father away in handcuffs. Suddenly the boy must grow up fast in a world that isn’t fair, keeping hope alive through the love he has for his father’s faithful dog, Sounder.

Readers who enjoy timeless dog stories such as Old Yeller and Where the Red Fern Grows will find much to love in Sounder, even as they read through tears at times.

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Sounder Audiobook Narrator

Avery Brooks is the narrator of Sounder audiobook that was written by William H. Armstrong

Avery Brooks is an accomplished actor, director, musician, and teacher. His credits include the television role of Captain Benjamin Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He served as the National Black Arts Festival’s Artistic Director throughout the 1990s and is an Associate Professor of Theater Arts at Rutgers University.

About the Author(s) of Sounder

William H. Armstrong is the author of Sounder

Subjects

The publisher of the Sounder is HarperCollins. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is African American, Juvenile Fiction, People & Places, United States

Additional info

The publisher of the Sounder is HarperCollins. The imprint is HarperCollins. It is supplied by HarperCollins. The ISBN-13 is 9780061146510.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

Candi

April 20, 2019

"I had a father and a dog named Sounder…"Believe it or not, this was my first time reading this classic Newbery award-winning book. I’m not sure why I didn’t read it as a child – I certainly read my fair share of animal books. I have to wonder if I would have felt the same overwhelming sense of loneliness I felt reading this now. I suspect I would have to some extent at least.The story revolves around a poor, African-American family living in the Deep South. They struggle to get by on sharecropping and hunting. Issues of racism loom throughout. Though the title of the book points to the dog as the main character, it really is much more a coming of age story of the young, unnamed son of this loving, hard-working family. There are plenty of themes to explore here for both young and old readers – loyalty, faith, and determination to name a few. Aside from the dog of course, I also loved the boy’s desire to learn to read. He took solace in the stories his mother told him, and he yearned for books of his own. "The boy liked it when she told her stories. They took away night loneliness."The boy learns some tough life lessons – some from his devoted mother and his loyal dog, and some on his own. It’s a story that will make you gulp a time or two, but there’s also that glimmer of hope that makes this such an endearing and memorable little book. 4.5 stars rounded up"… there was no price that could be put on Sounder’s voice… It filled up the night and made music as though the branches of all the trees were being pulled across silver strings."

Jon

October 21, 2021

I missed reading this book in junior high, but it has been on my to read list for years. This powerful story about love and commitment is both inspired and heartbreaking. An African American family is torn apart when the father is arrested for stealing a ham. Sounder (his dog) is shot as he runs after the cart he is chained up in. What follows is a story of survival in a world that is both unfair and indifferent. The eldest son must try to provide for his mother and younger siblings. With no information on where his father is the eldest son sets out to find his father - and encounters bigotry and intolerance. Sounder is the only character in the book who is named; this lends weight to the 'nameless' number of African American families that this sharecropping family represents. Highest recommendation.

Josiah

October 21, 2021

I was pleasantly surprised by this book, though the story itself doesn't strike a pleasant tone. In most years I would quickly agreed that Sounder was the best choice for the Newbery Medal, but for 1970 I probably would have given the award to John D. Fitzgerald's More Adventures of the Great Brain. William H. Armstrong writes with a quiet sincerity I have not seen exceeded. Young readers are often told that no matter how they feel now, everything will be okay eventually; in the long run their hurt and deprivation will be forgotten. By contrast, William H. Armstrong doesn't back away from the real horrors that this African-American family living in the mountains must face in Sounder. He doesn't gloss over situations that can't be fixed, that can never be made right again. In describing the devastating, grotesque injuries suffered by the coon dog Sounder, and the unspeakable treatment inflicted upon the boy's father, Mr. Armstrong acknowledges not only his characters' raw, weeping wounds, but the similar feelings of his readers that sometimes, things will not be okay; bad things happen that can never be reversed. The power of Sounder is breathtaking. This is a worthy novel by a great author.

Lesle

September 24, 2022

Sounder is a loyal coon hunting dog that stumbles into the life of his master to be. A poor family of sharecroppers who cannot afford to support themselves in the middle of winter. So the father steals a ham for his wife and starving children. The sheriff and deputies come to the door with the evidence still present. Sounder, tries to rescue his master, gets horribly shot while the master is taken to jail. The oldest son in the family look everywhere for Sounder and is unable to find his father's loyal dog. Sounder is all he has left of his father who is in jail and later working somewhere in a Labor Camp. While the father is in jail his mother tries to make amends by returning the stolen food, she is deeply religious and tries to do the right thing. The eldest son is very alone, his desire to read and attend school, almost outweighs his determination to find his father. When Sounder finally returns, he is broken and barely a dog. Sounder is the only one given a name leaving you with the personalities and emotions of a resilient family. The years the father is gone goes by way to fast, without much detail, but the joyous reunion between master and dog are deep, heartfelt, love.

Camie

March 01, 2019

“ He had asked the teacher what it meant, and the teacher had said that if a flower blooms once, it goes on blooming somewhere forever. It blooms on for whoever has seen it blooming. It was not quite clear to the boy then, but it was now. Years later, walking the earth as a man, it would all sweep back over him, again and again, like an echo on the wind. “ Classic “ children’s” book and Newberry Award winner about a poor black sharecropper’s family and their dog Sounder, which you will understand as a completely different story than the one you read in 5 th or 6 th grade if you revisit it after some 50 years. A story much less about a dog than it is about the loves and losses one faces in life. Read for March On The Southern Literary Trail - 5 stars

Kurt

February 29, 2020

Sounder, the coon dog, is the only character with a name in this whole book. This is obviously intentional on the part of the author to drive home some point. Some have posited that it illustrates the meaninglessness and hopelessness of the lives of the poor black sharecropper family at the center of this story. Being treated nearly as non-entities would be similar to being completely nameless. Being illiterate would mean that their story, like the stories of millions of other poor illiterate minorities, would likely never be told – except perhaps in a general way within a work of fiction such as this.I enjoyed this story very much. I had selected it as a book to read with my 4th-grade reading group (comprised of myself and six students), but upon reading the first chapter I abandoned that idea and determined that much of its prose was needlessly out of reach for my young students – heck, some of it was over my head too. But, as I said, the story was good. I just wish the author had presented it in a way that would be more accessible to younger readers rather than trying to win literary kudos.In almost every story featuring a dog, the dog dies at the end. SPOILER ALERT: Sounder is no exception. I especially appreciated the closing sentences which describe the (newly literate) boy's reaction upon learning of Sounder's old-age death:[He] was glad. He had learned to read his book with the torn cover better now. He had read in it: “Only the unwise think that what has changed is dead.” He had asked the teacher what it meant, and the teacher had said that if a flower blooms once, it goes on blooming somewhere forever. It blooms on for whoever has seen it blooming. It was not quite clear to the boy then, but it was now.Years later, walking the earth as a man, it would all sweep back over him, again and again, like an echo on the wind.The pine trees would look down forever on a lantern burning out of oil but not going out. A harvest moon would cast shadows forever of a man walking upright, his dog bouncing after him. And the quiet of the night would fill and echo again with the deep voice of Sounder, the great coon dog.

Trish

July 26, 2019

This was, surprisingly, a VERY depressing read. Especially considering that it is for small children. Don't get me wrong, I think the experience is worthwhile, but it isn't done too often.The story is that of a poor black family whose father eventually steals food when he and his dog, the titular Sounder, can no longer find any game. I could now tell you of the struggle and the hardship and the pain (both physical and emotional) but that might spoiler too much of the plot. As you can see from the opening paragraph of this review, however, it doesn't have a happy ending as a fairy tale would have. The author tried to show how the family heals despite what happens towards the end, and maybe the message is clear for Christians as the author was heavily influenced by that faith, but overall it's a pretty depressing ending if you ask me.However, the way the story was told and the way the author ended it serve one purpose he might not have intended: to make it very real-to-life and therefore being even more adequate for teaching young and old readers about the time this story is set in, about slavery, about family values, about honesty (in words and deeds), about the human heart and spirit.Yes, some people will probably see the Christian motive in this. I didn't. Well, in the end I did see what the author intended to do, but it didn't work for me no matter what the author said in the foreword (which was interesting nonetheless).What helped me get through this was that it was pretty short and that the writing style was simple and direct (just like when someone relates a story to you that they have heard from someone else).A story that definitely stands out so I'm glad I read it for that reason alone.

Quirkyreader

January 10, 2012

For me it was a very fast read of a thought provoking story. I hope my students enjoy it as much as I did.

Ensiform

September 15, 2013

Winner of the 1970 Newbery. Set probably some time in the ‘30s, this book centers on an unnamed black boy who must grow up fast after his poor, sharecropper father is arrested for stealing a ham for his hungry family. The titular dog, a hound/bulldog mix who loves to hunt with the father, is hit with a shotgun during the arrest, and never hunts again. It’s a bleak tale; the boy’s silent rage, in which he visualizes brutal violence befalling the unjust, cruel white men who oppress him and his father, is mitigated only by a persistent desire to educate himself, which blooms when he meets a kindly widowed teacher.This gift of literacy, which literally opens up new worlds to the boy (there is a distinct albeit unsaid implication that he will eventually move beyond the narrow world of shacks in which he grew up), in some small way helps the boy from being crushed by the destruction of the spirits and bodies of both father and dog. In the end, after the miserable dog finally dies under the house, the boy is glad: “Only the unwise think that what has changed is dead,” he consoles himself. Is this really a book for children? I suppose so, despite the bleakness and injustice that saturates the story. I read this book as a child, and though much of his poetic prose and historical import must have gone over my head, I remember being very moved by the cruelties the boy and dog endured. However, this is definitely also a story that adults not only can by edified by, they ought to.[read twice]

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