The Underneath | 
| Author: Kathi Appelt
Creator: David Small
Publisher: Atheneum
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
Buy New: $9.65
You Save: $7.34 (43%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 15595
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 6.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 1416950583
EAN: 9781416950585
ASIN: 1416950583
Publication Date: May 6, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: A perfect copy.
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Product Description
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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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Book Review: The Underneath July 24, 2008
I'm a skeptical reviewer. I'm prone to be disappointed in the books I read if they don't live up to my hopes. It's a curse. Until I started hearing the rave reviews, "The Underneath" is not a book that I would typically be be inclined to pick up. I'm glad I put my prejudices aside. While there will be debate about its kid friendliness, to my 27 year old eyes this story is fantastic. Sure to cast a big shadow in the discussion when "Best Books of Aught 8 lists start coming together. Destined to stick with you long after putting it down.
It's appropriate that Louis Sachar is quoted on the cover - the twin story line format (one ancient, one current) of his outstanding "Holes" is also present in "The Underneath". An abandoned calico cat is lured deep into the bayou by the baying of an old hound dog, Ranger. The dog's tortured owner, Gar Face, an alcoholic, is obsessed with the hunt of an elusive 100 foot long alligator. The cat gives birth to two kittens (Sabine and Puck) underneath Gar Face's porch. Eventually they are discovered and the family is split up. Meanwhile, in a clay jar buried deep underneath a dying tree lives Grandmother Moccasin, who has a story of her own that will come to affect the lives of our main characters.
It took me a while to fully buy in to this story. I went through the first half not knowing what to think. A little too "listen to the language of the trees" perhaps. At about the halfway point I was hooked. For the last third it was an absolute page turner. The ending is what any reader hopes for: thrilling and satisfying.
In "The Underneath" words aren't just words, they're physical matter. Words can be breathed in, coughed out, and they can roll you over. Words, and the emotions they embody, figure prominently in this story.
Does it suffer from children's lit for adults syndrome? There is a possibility. The story's poetic quality will be too lyrical for some readers. The sophisticated style of its descriptions will require a sophisticated reader to appreciate them. That may throw some off, since so much of this tale is wrapped up in the language used. This one is for upper elementary, to be sure.
This much I know: you'll be thinking about "The Underneath" for a while after you've turned the last page. Not many books do that. An outstanding novel.
 Confusing and pretentious July 24, 2008
It's hard to fathom the audience for this violent, disturbing story which mixes fantastical elements with ugly modern reality in a "lyrical" story marketed to children. Yuck.
A New Classic! June 30, 2008
To this day, I remember where I was when I finished reading Where the Red Fern Grows . I was in the car (my mom had run into Service Merchandise) and caught completely off-guard by the climax of the book. I remember the tears running down my face as I turned the pages, alternately shocked that my aunt had recommended a book like this to me and overjoyed that someone had managed to capture a love so deep and true between a boy and his dogs. While it broke my heart, it also became one of my favorite books of all time. It has been more than a decade since I first read Wilson Rawls' classic novel and nothing has touched me the same way since that day. That is, until I read Kathi Appelts' debut novel, The Underneath.
The Underneath is all at once tragic, consuming, passionate, full of love, hopeful, and alternately beautiful and ugly. Appelt does the almost-impossible, by threading 3 separate stories into one amazing climax that will renew your faith in goodness and love. It is an adventure, full of magic, myth, and mysticism, of sorrow, of family - of life. Woven together like an elaborate tapestry, the result is gorgeous and awe-inspiring.
The blurb on the back cover quotes author Alison McGhee as saying, " Rarely do I come across a book that makes me catch my breath, that reminds me why I wanted to be a writer--to make of life something beautiful, something enduring." While you may be ready to scoff (I admit I was!), reading just a few pages will convince you that McGhee is absolutely right. This novel is an inspiration to anyone who writes. Appelt's debut novel is haunting, lyrical, and poetic. While the stories seem separate at first, they come together in a stunning conclusion that wraps up all loose ends.
Appelt is a master storyteller, and seems a natural heir to Natalie Babbitt, one of America's foremost children's authors. In fact, her use of symbolism and vivid imagery reminded me of Babbitt in many ways. I would love to use The Underneath in my class, as a companion to Tuck Everlasting.
It's almost impossible to describe what the story is about. It takes place deep, deep in a Southern bayou- a place full of mysticism and magic. There is a bad man, an evil man. There is an abandoned calico cat- "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". Heartbreaking, isn't it? There is an abused hound dog, chained to a porch, fed sparingly and kicked often. Later, there is a family made up that abandoned calico cat, the abused hound dog, and two new kittens. One of those kittens ventures out from the safety of the Underneath and sets into motion a chain of events that changes their lives.
There are sentient trees, ancient shape-shifters, and myth and magic. Lullabies and secrets that only the trees know. Yet it all seems so real.
I feel like no review can do this book justice. It is magical and wonderful, sad and full of hope. There is so much hate but also so much love. Kate Appelt has written a new classic and I would be shocked if this was not given high honors by the Newbery committee in January.
[....]
Courtesy of Teens Read Too June 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've stated before that if a book can make me laugh hysterically or cry hysterically, it's guaranteed a good review because it means the author has gone above and beyond. That is the case with THE UNDERNEATH. Except, a good review isn't enough for this book. It is not. I only hope that my review can begin to do justice to this amazing work.
THE UNDERNEATH is lyrical, strong, and extremely well-written. It is thought provoking and "can't put it down" fantastic. Kathy Appelt does not lower the bar in the slightest from page one until the book is done. Not one bit.
Appelt weaves a brilliant tale about an old, beaten-down hound dog and the felines he loves. She also weaves an almost entirely separate folktale of a miserable, bitter, shape-shifting snake. How do these two stories fit into the same book? Ask Kathi Appelt, because I'm still trying to figure out how she beautifully intertwined them. But she did. She did.
In the acknowledgements, Appelt mentions advice from M.T. Anderson (THE ASTONISHING LIFE OF OCTAVIAN NOTHING) that she took to heart: "Write what you think you can't." Obviously, this author put her heart and her soul into the writing of a beautiful book, and it has paid off with a tale that will last for generations.
You know that gut feeling you get when you read a book like CHARLOTTE'S WEB or THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE? That Lasting feeling? Lasting wraps itself around you and urges you to read this book carefully because you'll want it in good condition on your shelf for a long time to come. That is this book. This perfect and Lasting book.
Reviewed by: Julie M. Prince
2008 Newbery Winner ? June 17, 2008
This epic tale, in short chapters, takes the reader on a captivating journey centered in the wild swamps of west Texas. I knew (and so might you) from the first page that there was something different about this book. The craftmanship of the language, the characters, and the emotional realism of the plot.. everything is evident throughout. This book reminds me of The Tiger Rising by Kate Dicamillo (which is my favorite children's book) but The Underneath is a story from the animal's (dog and cats) perspective. The short chapters make it a good read aloud book for teachers.
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