Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
Here's a book that the moment you finish it (under 30 minutes!) you'll want to begin again.
It's also a book that you'll want to give away – but not your own copy – so call your local bookstore and have them order five or maybe ten copies so you can give them to your friends.
Love That Dog is about a dog, sort of. It’s also about a boy named Jack. And his teacher, Miss Stretchberry. But best of all, it’s about poetry: learning to love to read it and learning to love to write it.
Love That Dog opens with the straight-talking voice of our young narrator:
I don’t want to
because boys
don’t write poetry.
Girls do.
But as the school year goes on Jack endearingly changes his mind. Through the encouragement of his teacher, poems and poets start to come alive. My favourite stanza:
I think Mr. Robert Frost
has a little
too
much
time
on his
hands.
By the end of the book Jack has finally found a way to talk about his beloved dog, Sky, by using verse.
If the verse novel is new to your reading experiencing, Love that Dog is the perfect place to begin. Published by HarperTrophy Books. Definitely all ages.
