Sounder is a young adult novel by William H. Armstrong. It is the story of an African-American boy living with his sharecropper family in Depression-era Louisiana. Although the family's difficulties increase when the father is imprisoned, the boy still hungers for an education. Sounder won the Newbery Award in 1970, and was made in to a major motion picture in 1972. Plot summary The main character, the family's eldest son, is called simply "the boy". His father is a sharecropper, and works hard for very little money. His mother tries hard to make the best out of what little food they have. The "Sounder" of the title is the father's devoted hunting dog (a bloodhound/boxer mix), named for his beautiful voice. One day, the boy smells something delicious cooking in the kitchen: a nice big piece of ham. The father, however, has stolen the ham, and soon afterward, the Sheriff arrives and arrests him for thef