Sounder

By William Howard Armstrong

VHS 96 minutes.  ABC’s Wonderful World of Disney V1188

The struggles undergone by an African-American family living in Louisiana during the time of the Depression is the subject of this video/film based on the 1970 Newbery Award book by Armstrong.  The father in the family is driven by desperation to steal and getting caught is sent to prison thus setting the family further into poverty.  The son, referred to only as Boy has to assume the role of breadwinner by working in the farming chores.  Despite the tragedy that is portrayed in this book/video, it is the drive and the perseverance and love of the family that will stay with the reader/viewer.