Sounder

My daughter had a final project in a class where, among other tasks, she had to read an award winning book from a given year.  I was looking on my Newbery app and saw the Newbery winner for the year I was born (1970) was William Armstrong's Sounder.  Since I try to read with my son at least a few minutes every day, I thought, "Oooh!  A dog book!"  And he thought, "Ooooh! A dog book!"  For me, this was so much more.

This book takes place in around the 1940's (my guess) in the home of a sharecropper family.  The family's father and his faithful dog frequently go out to hunt for food because times are tough.  Though a plot twist, the two are separated for years, but reunited.  For my son, this was "a dog book."  For me, this was a story of love and faithfulness much like Where the Red Fern Grows.  I highly, highly recommend this book.

Spoiler alert:  I made the mistake of reading this book to my son.  I was sobbing so hard at the end (he started tearing, too) that I had to have him finish up the chapter.  I was somewhat prepared for the end, but it was much more beautiful in a tragic way than I anticipated.