The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

When a cat hears a song of loneliness in the woods, she doesn’t run away like other cats would do, she follows the sound. Finally, someone who understood the meaning of the song.

The abused dog who howled the song becomes friends with the cat, who gave birth to kittens a few days later.

They are part of a happy family now with rules to protect the little ones. The most important one, stay in the Underneath, was broken by one of the curious kitten named Puck.

Snatched away by the mean owner of the dog, Puck goes on a journey to find his way back, a journey with much more meaning than going home.

This book isn’t boring and stupid as you would suspect. It actually had a lot of depth and meaning to it which reminds me that books can change us.

The characters were very unique and had complicated back stories, especially that old snake lady. Grandmother Moccasin I believe her name was.

She had a very blunt, selfish personality but I think she just really wasn’t thinking about her choices. Like, snake lady wanted people someone to admire her, and it felt good, knowing that someone admired her.

But I think it would have been best if she gave Night Song a choice. She gave off a sense of being very motherly. When Night Song died, Grandmother Moccasin wanted her Night Song’s daughter. I think she just really being admired and loved.

Now, the relationship of Ranger, mama cat, Sabine and Puck didn’t really surprise me. Neither did the love or the commitment. I have heard many stories of cats and dogs being friends/family.

Gar Face was also an important character. Did he deserve to get eaten by the Alligator King? Well, I would say yes. He’s just evil to the core. If I was Ranger, I wouldn’t have ever forgiven him.

The hummingbird, I believe, was the daughter of Night Song and Hawk Man.

This leads me to the writing style. The way the author wrote this, was kind of…abstract. She didn’t just say, Night Song died. It was something like she faded away.

With this kind of writing, you kind of have to make sense of what’s happening by yourself. I don’t know if it’s just me, but with this kind of writing, it made the book more emotional and touchy feeley. (In a good way)

This book was just super amazing. I was really surprised to see that she also wrote Keeper, another good book.

Really, I can’t find any flaws in The Underneath.

5 out of 5