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There is nothing lonelier than a cat who has been loved, at least for a while, and then abandoned on the side of the road.
A calico cat, about to have kittens, hears the lonely howl of a chained-up hound deep in the backwaters of the bayou. She dares to find him in the forest, and the hound dares to befriend this cat, this feline, this creature he is supposed to hate. They are an unlikely pair, about to become an unlikely family. Ranger urges the cat to hide underneath the porch, to raise her kittens there because Gar-Face, the man living inside the house, will surely use them as alligator bait should he find them. But they are safe in the Underneath...as long as they stay in the Underneath.
Kittens, however, are notoriously curious creatures. And one kitten's one moment of curiosity sets off a chain of events that is astonishing, remarkable, and enormous in its meaning. For everyone who loves Sounder, Shiloh, and The Yearling, for everyone who loves the haunting beauty of writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Flannery O'Connor, and Carson McCullers, Kathi Appelt spins a harrowing yet keenly sweet tale about the power of love — and its opposite, hate — the fragility of happiness and the importance of making good on your promises.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Awards
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Release date
May 6, 2008 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780743572095
- File size: 184435 KB
- Duration: 06:24:14
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- ATOS Level: 5.2
- Lexile® Measure: 830
- Interest Level: 6-12(MG+)
- Text Difficulty: 4-5
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Reviews
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A thousand years ago a snake was imprisoned in a jar. In the bayou, a tree grew around it, and the snake's hate grew. Twenty-five years ago lightning struck but did not fell the tree. A drunken father struck and disfigured his son, who ran away and began a life nurtured by hate. Today, a calico cat finds refuge under the man's porch, befriended by his abused hound. Kathi Appelt's first novel defies categorizing. It is a ballad whose music is heard in Gabra Zackman's perfect cadence. She transports the listener back a thousand years to begin the snake's story and interweaves today's tale of an angry, hate-filled man; an abused but loyal hound; and a calico cat and her kittens, making the magic real. N.E.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine -
July 28, 2008
On the page, Appelt's first novel, about abused animals and set in a Deep South swamp, reads like it might be spoken with a pronounced twang. Zackman's interpretation, however, is so mellifluous that it sounds like a lullaby. That smooth delivery strikes a discordant note with the material, a story that braids three dark narrative strands: the vodka-swilling Gar Face's battle with the 100-foot-long Alligator King; Gar Face's abused, chained hound dog's ill-fated shepherding of a mother cat and her kittens; and the thousand-year imprisonment of Grandmother Moccasin, a serpent so selfish she resents her daughter falling in love. The even-keel delivery also makes it hard to keep track as the story shifts among the myriad points of view, which include those of the villain, a family of shape-shifters, various animals and sentient trees. Appelt's stylistic choice to use repetition as a construct—“This cat, this feline, this creature he is supposed to hate...”—makes for a monotonous audio experience, and her use of words such as “goldy” (to describe sunshine) makes this disquieting book sound precious. Ages 9–12. Simultaneous release with the S&S/Atheneum hardcover.
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