The Underneath, by Kathi Appelt, is about a pregnant calico cat, that has been abandoned on the side of the road. Left with no where to go she travels the woods, when suddenly she hears a lonely howl from a hound whose name is Ranger chained up deep in the back waters of the bayou. The calico cat about to have kittens becomes an unlikely family with Ranger. Ranger urges the cat to hide underneath the porch from a horrible man named Gar-face, if he got his hands on them he'd surely kill them or use them as alligator bait. The calico cat had two kittens, one boy named Puck, and one girl named Sabine. The calico cat and Ranger always told their kittens to stay in the underneath away and out of sight from the terrible man Gar-face. One early morning the sun was out and Puck was awoken first, he was hypnotized by it, not knowing that he was walking out from the underneath breaking the #1 rule. He was suddenly snatched by Gar-face. His mother awoke and ran out toward him to attack but she was just scooped up like Puck. Gar-face stuffed them into a burlap bag and tossed them in the river. As they were thrown in the river the calico cat kept telling her son Puck to keep swimming and to promise that he'd go back and break the chain, as those words were said they began to fade, Puck got out of the water but his mother was no where to be seen, but he promised her he'd go back and that he would do as she told. One night Sabine and Ranger were out from the underneath when all of a sudden Gar-face grabbed Sabine, Ranger couldn't lose her too so Ranger quickly sprung up and attacked Gar-face as he was in pain he dropped Sabine and she ran away. Ranger was in pain as Gar-face dragged him to the river where he tied him to a tree and used him as alligator bait.
      Here's another story, about a mother snake named Grandmother Moccasin, and a daughter snake named Night Song because of her beautiful lullaby. One night when Grandmother Moccasin was fast asleep, Night Song had fallen in love with a hawk named Hawk man. They both turned into humans and joined a tribe, leaving Grandmother Moccasin behind. Hawk man and Night Song had a beautiful daughter. When Grandmother awoke she knew Night Song had left thinking she'd come back. She waited and waited and waited, she began to become furious she wanted her back. She searched for her to turn her back but if she turned back then she could never turn back to her human form, she found Night Song and hypnotized her and turned her back into a snake, separating her from her family she was torn apart and passed away. Night Song's daughter went looking for her mother in the deep woods, if Grandmother couldn't have Night Song then she'd take her daughter. Grandmother went back to the tribe to only find a furious father. He thought she had taken his daughter, and he thought she was lying but she wasn't. Hawk man stuffed Grandmother into a jar and buried the jar so deep it was almost impossible for her to get out. A thousand years later Grandmother broke out of her jar and slithered out.

Following up to the other story, she followed Puck to the river where Sabine and Ranger were, Gar-face was eaten by an alligator. Puck, Sabine and Ranger were finally together. Grandmother knew they were a strong family and that Ranger was still chained. Grandmother still knew a thing or two about love, so she broke the chain with one strong bite! The hound family didn't go back to the horrible house. They lived deep in the woods and lived happily ever after!
      The theme of the book in my opinion was always keep a promise. When Puck didn't keep a promise he got snatched by Gar-face. When Puck and his mom were thrown in the river, his mom made him promise he'd go back and break the chain and free Ranger. Puck did keep the promise and went back and broke the chain, sort of. These are some of the reasons I chose always keep a promise as my theme.
     I would absolutely recommend this book. It's a little boring in the beginning but it gets way better more into the book. There are some sad parts in the book but it gets better. In my opinion I liked this book a lot. I enjoyed this book a lot and I hope you enjoy it too!