Sounder is a heart wrenching multicultural novel speaking of when African Americans were oppressed and were not educated. This novel is about a black sharecropper’s family who are nearly starving and the unjust actions put on the family from white supremacist. Poor and hungry, the father and the dog, Sounder, are forced to go hunting each night for food but come up empty handed most night, until one day the family awakes to the smell of ham. Three men come to the house and accuse the father of stealing the ham and abruptly take him to jail. The remaining members of the family have to grapple with added responsibilities and no father. Running home from a brutal visit to the jail, the boy meets a teacher who ultimately takes him in and teaches him how to read and write. This novel is fiction, but it does portray the life of African-American life styles during this time frame. I would use this book with an upper aged class due to its intense description and graphic portrayal of day to day life. It is important to show kids history and for them to learn from racial mistakes in order to not continue the cycle.
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