LOVE THAT DOG

LOVE THAT DOG is written by Sharon Creech, winner of the Newbery medal for Walk Two Moons. This poetry novel is very interesting and a quick read. This story follows a struggling poet, Jack, who is in Miss Stretchberry's class (Room 105). Jack doesn't feel he can write poetry and any poems of his that his teacher wants to share with the rest of the class leads to Jack's refusal to put his name on his work. Jack is not confident about his poetry work. However, the more Jack writes in his journal and the more positive feedback and prodding he receives from his teacher leads to his true capabilities shining through. Jack discovers that poetry isn't all about rhyming and that splitting up his lines in different ways can cause his words to have a different rhythm and sounds very good after all. Jack also reads a lot of poetry and class. His favorite poet is Mr. Walter Dean Myers. Miss Stretchberry convinces (with Jack's help) Mr. Walter Dean Myers to come visit their classroom and talk to the students about poetry. It is Jack's favorite day and he feels proud of his poetry. Many of Jack's poems focus on his yellow dog who was hit by a car and how tough of a time that was for him.

This book was very fun to read. It would be great to read this novel at the start of a poetry unit for 4th, 5th or 6th graders. This book shows students how poetry can really be simple words broken up in many different ways. This book also shows the feelings of a student learning to write poetry and coming out of his shell. Many students will feel the same way as they're learning to write poetry - a genre that is out of their element. I plan on implementing writing journals in my writing workshop, so students could be simultaneously writing in their own notebooks while reading this book.

I like how the book is formatted in a dated diary/notebook style. This makes it more fun to read. I also like the changes Jack makes from the beginning of the book to the end. It's a wonderful transition to witness. I think older elementary and middle school kids will love this book and get a lot out of it!