Have students create a BME summary (Beginning, Middle, End) for Sounder by William H. Armstrong
Testo Storyboard
BEGINNING
We must catch something tonight, Sounder.
MIDDLE
If you would like, I will let you live with me and I will teach you. In exchange, you will help with chores.
END
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want, He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
A Black sharecropper and his dog, Sounder, go hunting each night so that the family can be fed. When hunting no longer brings in enough food, the sharecropper steals ham and is caught. When the sheriff arrives to take him away, Sounder chases them, gets shot, and runs away.
Weeks later Sounder returns in bad shape. The family takes care of the dog, and he becomes stronger each day. Meanwhile, they learn that father has been convicted and forced into hard labor. While looking for his father, a guard whacks the boy’s fingers with a piece of iron. The boy goes to a nearby schoolhouse to tend to his wounds and meets a kind teacher. The teacher offers to help by teaching him and allowing the boy to live with him, and mother agrees.
One day while at home, the boy sees his father walking down the long road to the cabin. He was terribly injured in a dynamite blast, but he is home. As dog and master reunite and heal, they go hunting together one last time. When Sounder returns without his master, the boy discovers that his father has died. Shortly after father’s death, Sounder dies as well. The boy is happy that they have found peace. He to learns to read and write, and has hope for a future.