Written for young-adult readers, William Armstrong's Sounder follows an unnamed African-American boy and his family, as they navigate the difficulties of poverty. The young boy is part of a sharecropper family, which means they are allowed to use the landowner's land as long as they give a percentage of their crops in return. As a result of this situation, the family is incredibly poor and can barely afford to eat.
Sounder and the father of the family attempt to hunt, to no avail. As a result, the family is left hungry, surviving on meager meals such as corn and biscuits. One day, the boy is surprised by a full ham being cooked by his family, but soon after his father is arrested for stealing it. Attempting to save his owner, Sounder runs after the father but is shot by one of the deputies.
The boy looks for Sounder but only finds the dog's ear. In his father's absence, the family struggles to make ends meet. At Christmas, the boy takes a present to his father in jail, but he is treated horribly by the guards. Some time afterward, the boy hears the sound of whining and finds Sounder. The dog is incredibly injured, but the boy is happy he is alive.
After this, the boy's father is sentenced to hard labor. The boy is set on finding his father, and in doing so he travels a long distance. Along the way, the boy meets a kind teacher and tells him his story. After hearing it, the teacher offers to be his mentor and to provide him with an education, with an emphasis on learning to read. The novel ends on a melancholy note, as the father returns but soon after passes away. Sounder also passes away, after going out with his master hunting for the last time.
