The Underneath

New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2008. BA4 - A 3rd printing hardcover book SIGNED and inscribed by Kathi Appelt to previous owner on the title page and also SIGNED by David Small on the title page in very good condition in very good dust jacket that is mylar protected. Dust jacket has some wrinkling, chipping and crease on the edges and corenrs, tiny tear/scratch on the upper right of the spine, some light discoloration and shelf wear. Book lightly bowed and cocked, some bumped corenrs, light discoloration and shelf wear. Illustrated by David Small. There is nothing lonelier than a cat who has been loved, at least for a while, and then abandoned on the side of the road. 8.25"x6.5", 313 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. 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.. Signed by Author & Illustrator. 3rd Printing. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.