I decided to read The Underneath first out of my latest stack of Newbery Award winners and Newbery honorees because it was about a hound (I have two). Then I read the inside cover, where it was likened to other animal-related classics in the style of “Where the Red Fern Grows” or Old Yeller (Perennial Classic.)and I wasn’t so sure I was going to like my first Newbery children’s book choice. I love children’s books and I love books about animals – but not SAD books about animals! I understand that the attachment we as readers develop toward the animal throughout the book is what makes these works of fiction lasting classics, but all the same I’d rather read something that doesn’t break my heart for the poor animal.
Without giving too much of the book away, I can suffice to say that it’s sad but not heartbreaking. This Newbery honoree weaves the story of an old hound who – ever since letting a bobcat get away while on the hunt and accidentally taking a bullet to the paw for the cat – ends up being adopted by a very different type of cat and her two kittens. Sure that sounds warm and fuzzy, but it’s set against a dark and sorrowful backdrop: the dog’s owner who is harsh and abusive, the creatures of the forest who have their own sordid pasts – some going back for a thousand years. And the warm-and-fuzzies go away promptly – and set the story in motion – when the dog’s owner sees one of the kittens, scoops it up with its mother and drops them in the river.
Before you think this Newbery Award Honorable Mention winner isn’t a suitable children’s book, I assure you it’s sad, but not overly gruesome or tragic. As the mother cat sinks to the bottom, she tells her kitten, Puck, that he must go after the dog, Ranger, and his sister, Sabine. Of course this is easier said than done and Puck embarks on a journey that is at once scary and comical, heart-wrenching and heart-warming.
Meanwhile, another creature of the forest is scheming and plotting her way out from under the earth where she’s been buried for one thousand years. Grandmother snake has a heart-wrenching story of her own, about her granddaughter who chose her human form over life as a snake. She’s been fuming about it for centuries and emerges seeking vengeance.
As her story becomes intertwined with the journey and determination of the kitten, it’s hard to guess if she will stay true to her sinister ways or decide after so many hundreds of years to turn over a new leaf.
This Newbery honoree is written in a very folkloric way, relying on a unique, stream-of-consciousness style and there’s not very much dialogue. At first I was a bit put off by these stylistic choices and it seemed as though the book was trying too hard to channel some of the famous folklore of the past, but the more I got into it the more I appreciated the simple style and the more I felt it fit the book. Since some of it is told via Gradmother snake’s flashbacks to her granddaughter’s choice to become human, a thousand years ago, it’s easy to believe that this is exactly how YOUR grandmother would tell a very deep, soulfully moving story if she were sitting on your bedside.
However, because it was told in fragmented flashback style, pieces of it were difficult to follow and a little confusing as to what time period was being addressed. But nothing that can’t be overcome by some good, old fashioned folklore!
