Love that Dog

Love That Dog	Scholastic, Inc
Written by Sharon Creech	2003
Poetry/Fiction	86 pages
Reading Level ages 8-12

Summary

Jack doesn’t want to write poetry. It’s for girls. He has to write poetry in his journal. He starts by disclaiming that he only is writing because he has to. He writes in short sentences, because poetry is just short phrases on each line. He thinks that Robert Frost had too much time on his hands when they read about stopping for the evening in the woods and if a poem could be written about a wheelbarrow, then poems could be written about anything. He wrote a poem about a blue car covered with mud driving fast and started to apply the different poetry types to it. He allowed his poem to be printed and put on the board, but wouldn’t let his name be on it. He doesn’t get why another person didn’t put their name on it when it was so good. He asks what anonymous means. His favorite poem became Love that Boy by Walter Dean Meyers. He applies it to his poem and Mrs. Stretchberry suggests he should write the poet and ask to come to their classroom. Walter Dean Meyers replies and comes to read his poetry to the class. Jack loves it. He sends Walter Dean Meyers a poem inspired by him about his dog Sky. His dog was hit by the blue car driving fast down the road. He even allows Mrs. Stretchberry to put his name on it. In the end, he thinks Walter Dean Meyers is the best person ever. Jack loved listening to his voice reading the poetry.

Reaction

I loved reading this book. It showed the progression of Jack from hating poetry to writing some really fantastic and deep poems about his dog and the experience he had with Sky. I liked that we didn’t see what Mrs. Stretchberry wrote in his journal, only Jack’s reaction to her comments. It was a quick read, but had depth to the plot and unique writing style, all in short verse.

Potential Problems

This book is about the development of Jack’s blue car poem that eventually tells how his dog Sky was run over the car driving down his road. It may be difficult for younger students to understand because it is written based on poems they might not have read yet.

Recommendations

I would recommend this to students who dislike poetry; it shows how Jack became a better writer and deepened his understanding of it. It would be a great introduction to a poetry unit.