Love That Dog

Title: Love that Dog
Author: Sharon Creech
Publisher: HarperColins
Copyright: 2001 by Sharon Creech
Ages: 9-12
Pages: 128
Genre: Poetry

Summary:
Jack does not like poetry. Poetry is for girls. He doesn’t understand how it is important and finds it to be a waste of time until his teacher starts to take notice of his poetry and posting it on the board. He writes about a blue car that speeds down his street like it has somewhere important to go. (We find out later that this car killed his dog.) He writes about his dog Sky, that he used to have. He and his father went to the animal shelter and picked out a yellow dog who he names Sky. Sky becomes his inspiration as he writes. He makes a poem to actually look like Sky. He begins to enjoy more and more poems and even develops a fondness for a certain author. Mr. Walter Dean Myers. He (Mr. Meyers) is invited to the school and Jack is able to meet him, along with the rest of the students. Jack writes to Mr. Myers and includes his poem about Sky that was inspired by Mr. Walter Dean Myers.

Recommendations:
I would recommend this to all teachers (2nd or 3rd grade) about to introduce poetry to their class. It’s a great starter. It shows that poetry can be whatever you want.

Potential Problems:
Sky getting hit by a car is very sad.

My Reaction:
I liked it, it gave me a new view on poetry and what it really is.