The Underneath: Kathi Appelt

Book: The Underneath
Author: Kathi Appelt
Illustrator: David Small
Pages: 320
Age Range: 9-12

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt is the story of an abandoned cat and her kittens. They form a family with a lonely, chained up hound dog. This family's story is intertwined with the thousand-year-old story of a a magical creature, half-woman, half-snake, and her family tragedy. Linking the stories together are a thousand-year-old tree, and an even more ancient alligator. Appelt blends these two stories together seamlessly, filling both with the sights and smells and sounds on an ancient wood.

The Underneath is beautifully written and moving. Kathi Appelt is a gifted writer. My copy is littered with post-it flags marking eloquent turns of phrase. I think The Underneath would make an excellent read-aloud title for later elementary school kids (despite some sad parts). It is sure to come up in award discussions later in the year. David Small's detailed illustrations are delightful, too.

I'm going to spare you a full review, since this book has already been reviewed all over the place, and everyone seems to love it. But here are a couple of passages, to give you an idea of the quality of Appelt's writing:

"Whenever there is a breeze in the old forest, you might, for a moment, realize that the trees are singing. There, on the wind, are the voices of sugarberry and juniper and maple, all telling you about this hound, this true-blue hound, tied to a post. They have been watching him all these years, listening to his song, and if he knew what the trees were singing, it might be about how he found a friend." (Page 25)

"Cats are famous for purring. And this is what the calico cat did as she curled up next to Ranger's massive chest, safe and soft. Until he heard it, Ranger had not realized how much he needed this sweet, friendly sound. How much he needed someone to settle in next to him. He didn't know that he needed to not be so solitary until at last he wasn't. So many needs in one old dog." (Page 30)

"Bones, fur, milk, curiosity. That is what cats are made of." (Page 71)

"A cat with hiccups cannot sneak up on anything. A cat with hiccups is a sorry sight." (Page 110)

The entire book is like that. You could pretty much pick any page to quote from, and it would be lyrical and distinctive. I must confess that I'm a bit concerned about the level of kid-appeal with this title. Yes, there are animals as the protagonists, and the kittens are very cute. But I'm not sure that middle grade readers really look for that these days. The cover shows the characters quite nicely, but is it really going to make someone who isn't into animal stories pick up the book? I'm just not sure... I would be interested to hear some feedback from actual kids on this one. But if you're an adult looking for a lovely, thoughtful, suspenseful read, this is one to try.

Publisher: Atheneum
Publication Date: May 2008
Source of Book: Bought it
Other Blog Reviews: 100 Scope Notes, A Year of Reading, Becky's Book Reviews, TheHappyNappyBookseller, The Reading Zone

© 2009 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved.

Comments

I love this book, but like you I'm concerned about kid appeal. It's the kind of book that often raises "Who is your audience?" questions. Perhaps its sheer brilliance trumps all that.

Very nice discussion!

[Kelley]

I was so weirded out by this book - no other way to say it. I would agree that the writing is lyrical, but I found the book's darkness and its very slow pace to be distressing. Rarely, however, do I continue reading a book when I'm not enjoying it. And while I didn't enjoy reading this one, I finished it and I kept reading (skimming some parts, admittedly.) It's just such a strange strange little book. I was expecting more 'real' story based soley, I admit, on the cover and didn't really 'buy' the fantasy story with the trees, snake and alligator.

[Jen Robinson]

Thanks for commenting, anonymous and Kelley. I don't know whether or not sheer brilliance can trump the audience question. I guess it depends on your criteria. If I were looking for books sure to please kids - particularly if I had reluctant readers on my hands - this wouldn't be my first choice. But clearly there are many adults who love it and find it brilliant. And some, like Kelley, who don't love it. I didn't personally have trouble with pace - it's not rapid in terms of the plot, but it's pretty spare prose, too, so I thought that it read quickly enough. But I still would like to hear reactions from kids on this one.

[Sheila Ruth]

I've seen other reviews of this and it's piqued my interest. It sounds to me like something that the kids on my community would LOVE. I'll have to try to read it and see what I think, and maybe I'll suggest it to them.

[Melissa]

I found Appelt's writing lyrical and lovely, but I found this book grim and depressing. It looks like a nice little animal story on the cover, but I think it would scare the pants off a lot of its intended audience. All the reviews I've seen have been glowing, glowing, glowing, and yet in the shop where I used to work, we'd sold hardly any because once we described the plot to teachers and librarians they agreed that grim and scary was not what their 3rd grade animal lovers were looking for. I have a really hard time trying to figure out who this book is for.

[Jen Robinson]

I'm afraid that I don't know who the audience is, either, Melissa. But I do suspect that it's more adults than third graders. Sheila, I think that you should try it first before recommending it. But I think you're likely to like it yourself.