A calico cat, about to have kittens, hears the lonely howl of a chained-up hound deep in the backwaters of the bayou. She dares to find him in the forest, and the hound dares to befriend this cat, this feline, this creature he is supposed to hate. They are an unlikely pair, about to become an unlikely family. Ranger urges the cat to hide underneath the porch, to raise her kittens there because Gar-Face, the man living inside the house, will surely use them as alligator bait should he find them. But they are safe in the Underneath...as long as they stay in the Underneath.Kittens, however, are notoriously curious creatures. And one kitten's one moment of curiosity sets off a chain of events that is astonishing, remarkable, and enormous in its meaning. For everyone who loves Sounder, Shiloh, and The Yearling, for everyone who loves the haunting beauty of writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Flannery O'Connor, and Carson McCullers, Kathi Appelt spins a harrowing yet keenly sweet tale about the power of love -- and its opposite, hate -- the fragility of happiness and the importance of making good on your promises.
一千年前，蛇妖莫卡辛祖奶奶为了夺回女儿，不惜毁掉女儿的家庭，并害女儿失去生命。她因此受到了惩罚，被关进坛子，深埋地底一千年。一千年后，小猫帕克和妈妈一起被猎人针鱼脸丢进了河里，妈妈溺水而死，帕克独自踏上了营救姐姐和猎犬爸爸的漫漫长路。帕克终于救出了姐姐和猎犬爸爸，莫卡辛祖奶奶也终于破坛而出；他们在老松树下相遇了。被饥饿与背叛折磨了一千年的莫卡辛祖奶奶，这次能忘记仇恨与伤害，成全帕克一家吗？
By Kathi Appelt, Illustrated by David Small, Simplified or Traditional Chinese Characters, Paperback, 272 pages, 6.6"x9.25"
