The Underneath by Kathi Appelt.
I had heard wonderful things about this book, but still approached it with a bit of hesitation. I’m not much of an animal-book reader. Let me assure you, there is no need for hesitation. This book is magic.
It is the story of a pregnant calico cat looking for a safe place. It is the story of an abused hound dog who howls the blues and needs a friend. It is the story of a man devoured by a need to prove himself. It is the thousand-year-old story of Grandmother Moccasin, a magical snake. It is the story of love. The story of need. The story of trees, of swamp, of time.
Appelt has created here a book that is thick with passion, deep with thought and resonant with love. She has taken risks here of writing too emotionally, too deeply, but manages to enter poetry and move with it. She creates a story that has a feeling of timelessness, a feeling of folklore, and it is her language that makes that so successful. Her writing is poetry in the form of prose, and it is thoroughly lovely.
This is not an animal story for the faint of heart. Here you will see into the reality of evil. The reality of abuse. The horror of indifference. The twisting of love into desire and selfishness. It is a book that will bring you to tears, shock you into stopping breathing and stun you with its bravery and truth.
I must share at least one passage with you. This is from page 50:
His heart pounded in a drumbeat of hunger, of pain, of want, of furious want. He couldn’t swallow for want of air. Couldn’t see for want of light. Couldn’t stop for want of want. Here was want crystallized in the shape of a damaged boy. He kept running.
Whew. The entire book is like that. In fact, it’s hard to have selected one small passage. I could have kept typing and typing and typing her prose. It is all worthy of being pulled out and celebrated.
This is my number one book of the year for kids ages 11-14. My vote for the Newbery! Go already, find a copy, and enter a truly amazing novel that you will not want to leave.
Waking Brain Cells 
Oy yoy yoy! “Couldn’t stop for want of want.”??? He didn’t want want! He wanted his wanting to end. I tried to read this after it won a Newbery Honor, but I couldn’t get past what seemed like pretentious over-writing to me. A writing teacher once told me that you’re in big trouble if you fall in love with your own phrases. Those are the ones you should cross out right away. In my opinion (maybe not humble enough), lots of crossing out should have gone on here.
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As you could see in my review, I really liked the language of the book. I felt it matched the subject matter perfectly. Yes, it would not work well in many books, but here it did. As always, to each their own!
Did you have a book of the year you would have preferred to win an Honor?
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