Sour Land

Sounder

by William H. Armstrong

Life is hard for the three Stone children. The death of their mother has left them bereft and grieving. Their father tries hard to make things better, but he is busy trying to keep their farm going. Even the land around them seems to have betrayed It is so barren that it is known as sour land. Then Moses Waters comes to teach at the black school at Cedar Corners. Moses can hear things no one else can, like the sound of the grass and the earth humming together. More than anyone else, he seems to have a special understanding of the Stone family. Only Moses can help them out of their grief. But a sour land grows sour people. There are some folks in town who don't approve of the friendship between the white Stone family and the new black teacher. And it looks like they will go to dangerous lengths to stop it.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Realistic Fiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1971

About the author

William H. Armstrong (1911 - 1999) was an American children's author and educator, best known for his 1969 Newbery Medal-winning novel, Sounder.

In 1956, at the request of his school headmaster, he published his first book, a study guide called Study Is Hard Work. Armstrong followed this title with numerous other self-help books, and in 1963 he was awarded the National School Bell Award of the National Association of School Administrators for distinguished service in the interpretation of education.

In 1969, Armstrong published his masterpiece, an eight-chapter novel titled Sounder about an African-American sharecropping family. Praised by critics, Sounder won the John Newbery Medal and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1970, and was adapted into a major motion picture in 1972.

Reviews

[Katja Labonté · Rating 5 out of 5]

5+ stars (8/10 hearts). My heart. I’m not even sure how to review this book. I was sure it could’t beat Sounder even if it’s not an official sequel. But as soon as I started it I fell in love… and when I reread, I’d forgotten how good it was and was blown away again.

Moses, you all… just, Moses. What a sweet, wise, Godly old man. I want to be a Moses. <33 I can’t express what a wonderful character he was, and how deeply he influences and touches me every time I read this book. I love Anson, so kind and understanding, and Enoch is amazing. The children are all so sweet and real, too.

The writing style was really beautiful, understated and slow and gentle, unlike Sounder yet slightly similar. I love the unspoken themes of love and understanding for man and nature—the reminder that everyone is so unique and worthwhile and beautiful.

And the ending… oh, it’s terrible and beautiful all at once. I cannot really believe it and rereading it, I hope with all my heart it will just be different this time… work out… be perfect… Yet it is needed, and it is true, and it is powerful.

In short, this is a heartbreakingly beautiful in its own right, and a wonderful, unofficial sequel to Sounder. <3

A Favourite Quote: “‘I guess children have to stub their toes, fall out of trees they have climbed, and see these sad things, to be trained for living in the world,’ Moses Welters said[.]
“Anson … said, ‘We’d like to keep children from these things, but you’re right. They have to learn.’”

[Books Kids Like · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moses Waters grew into a gentle man with a keen insight into life. He has a reverence for books and learning. Ansom Stone, a farmer, hires Moses to work on his farm. Ansom's children, David, Jonathan, and Ruth fall in love with Moses who shares with them stories and a love of nature. When school starts in the fall, Moses starts teaching at the Negro school in Cedar Corners. He stays on with the Stones to help with chores and the children's lessons in the evenings. Moses and the Stones enjoy a wonderful friendship for many years. One night Moses witnesses the murder of a black girl. When he goes to the Commonwealth attorney to press charges against the Lawhorn brothers, the Lawhorn clan’s violence is directed toward Moses. Despite its never gaining any literary prominence, Sour Land is a well-written book that tells how the boy in Sounder grew up to be a compassionate and gentle man who still had to live in an unjust world where he was judged by his skin color.

[Deanna Mlynarczyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not a sequel to Sounder, but does make one reference to Sounder in the middle of the book. Because of the introduction to Sounder by the author, and because of the ending of this book, I think it is based on the author's real life. And like real life, there isn't always a happy ending. This would be a good book for reader's who like books by Mildred Taylor, such as Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry.

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is no indication that this is sequel to William H. Armstrong's Newbery award winning novel Sounder until about midway through. Moses is asked if he ever had a dog and he answers that he did, once and the dog's name was Sounder. That book is the reason I can never read animal books, so I immediately braced for something similar to happen in this one. Like so many stories written about post-slavery relations, the stereotype of the sage older black man teaching rural white kids history lessons is a bit overdone but written so well that one must be reminded that all stereotypes begin somewhere, before they become tired they're fresh. I really enjoyed the book overall and think it should be considered as a companion to Sounder.

[slauderdale]

That ended about as well as can be expected. [heavy irony] I was sort of bummed about the reveal re: the identity of the Moses Waters - I actually thought he was going to correlate to a different character from "Sounder," whose identity he seems to have subsumed. An eloquent book, but perhaps too mired in spoken dialogue by the characters, even though it still has the heavily interior quality of "Sounder."
[cribbed from my reading log]

Jotting down this quote for myself:
"Children understand more than we do sometimes. They're willing to pay the price for love. When there's none to buy, that's when it's sad." (p. 77)

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my! This book and Sounder should be assigned middle school reading. They are different aproaches to the same problem.

As I read, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. I wasn't ready.

Moses' name was not random. He led people: young and old, black and white. He had such self-control. Some people feared from their own ignorance.

These books are good segues for group book discussion. Our local libraries do not have Sourland, so I will donate my copy.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book to read after you read the classic "Sounder." it paints a loving, but realistic picture of life in pre-Civil Rights America. I like the way Armstrong shows friendships that were formed in spite of prejudice surrounding good people, and the example of a father teaching his children good things despite being surrounded by hatred and bigotry.

[Corinne · Rating 5 out of 5]

So sad the way oeople are treated.

[Mickey Bits · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting "sequel" to Sounder. Perhaps it was the point, but I would have liked to know more about the protagonist of Sounder during his adult life.

[Sherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the description of this book on the front flap, it makes note of a "shocking ending" but sadly, and disturbingly it was not a surprise because everyone knows what usually happens when a story is about racism. It continues to be upsetting when we recognize that the story, written in 1971, can very easily be a story written in 2021 because not much has changed in society.

As noted in some other reviews, this story is written for a middle-years audience so the details of racist acts are blurry but children will still clearly see the blatant racial inequality presented in the story. It was so beautiful how it started out, a white family befriending a new black neighbor (Moses Waters), accepting him into their family with love and respect and enduring all the negativity from community members - standing up for their friend at every turn. I fell in love with all these wonderful characters and felt hopeful, very briefly, that things would not turn out as expected.

Armstrong's writing is poetic and a joy to read yet this story seemed to need a bit more to bring it all together in the end.

[Story Revolution]

Life is hard for the three Stone children. The death of their mother has left them bereft and grieving. Their father tries hard to make things better, but he is busy trying to keep their farm going. Even the land around them seems to have betrayed them: It is so barren that it is known as sour land.Then Moses Waters comes to teach at the black school at Cedar Corners. Moses can hear things no one else can, like the sound of the grass and the earth humming together. More than anyone else, he seems to have a special understanding of the Stone family. Only Moses can help them out of their grief.But a sour land grows sour people. There are some folks in town who don't approve of the friendship between the white Stone family and the new black teacher. And it looks like they will go to dangerous lengths to stop it.

[Cassandra Ball · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was about a white family who befriends a black man and take him in as a member of their family pretty much. Because of this the children go through a couple trials at school and the father has to deal with several issues including in the end the black man being shoot and then framed as a drunk. I really loved this book. Even though it did deal with a very controversial issue, I thought that the book presented in such a beautiful way.

[Benjamin Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sequel to the book Sounder that won a Newberry award in the 70's. It contains the same stark look at conditions for black people in the south, but this time told mostly through the story of an accepting white family and how the old man improves their lives. The story is warmer than the first one, but still portrays the inequity of the times, particularly with the ending.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seems that the injustices of ignorant, mean people prevail in a cursed world, but the main character in this story rises above the pettiness and brutality of wicked people to teach us love instead of hate, peace instead of fear and order instead of chaos.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely prose. Ignorance makes me sad.

[Carol Waters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lyrical writing but way ham-handed with the moral lesson. Saw how that one was going to end by the conclusion of the first chapter.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book started a little slow, although it picked up and turned into an excellent story. I recommend this book for everyone ages 11+.

[Nova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good story; set in the Southern States when racism was still rife.