Love That Dog
by Sharon Creech

List Price: $15.99
Our Price: $6.12
You Save: $9.87 (62%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions

Book Summary Information

Book Reviews of Love That Dog

Book Review: Love that poem
Summary: 5 Stars

The story pulls details from eight poems. In September, Jack, the child narrator in Miss Stretchberry's Room 105, can't understand an unnamed "poem about/the red wheelbarrow/and the white chickens" (William Carlos Williams). In October, a few pages later, he fails to grasp "the tiger tiger burning bright poem/but at least it sounded good in my ears" (William Blake). By January, he's concluded that "Mr. Robert Frost/ who wrote/about the pasture/ was also the one/ who wrote about/ those snowy woods/ and the miles to go/ before he sleeps---well!"

That is also the month Jack writes a poem about his family's trip to the dog pound. There, he chose from among "big and small/ fat and skinny/ some of them/ hiding in the corner/ but most of them bark-bark-barking and/ jumping up against the wire cage" a yellow dog standing "with his paws curled around the wire/and his long red tongue/ hanging out".

By March, Jack has waxed enthusiastic about a poem by "Mr. Walter Dean Myers/ the best best BEST/ poem/ever." He has even related it to his experience with the yellow dog, whom he named Sky. In April, Jack writes to Mr. Walter Dean Myers. And in May the poet agrees to visit the school. As Mr. Walter Dean Myers reads poems to the class on June 1, Jack finds "All of my blood/in my veins/ was bubbling/and all of the thoughts/ in my head/ were buzzing." That's about how it feels to love a poem.

Several other important details make this book a keeper--not least, what happened to Jack's dog, and his closing poem.

At the end, Creech shares the eight poems to which she refers throughout: William Carlos Williams' "Red Wheelbarrow," Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" and "The Pasture," William Blake's "Tiger," Valerie Worth's "dog," Arnold Adoff's "Street Music," S.C. Rigg's "The Apple," and Walter Dean Myers' "Love That Boy."

If you want children to love poems, just give them this one. Alyssa A. Lappen

Summary of Love That Dog

"I guess it does
look like a poem
when you see it
typed up
like that."

Jack hates poetry. Only girls write it and every time he tries to, his brain feels empty. But his teacher, Ms. Stretchberry, won't stop giving her class poetry assignments -- and Jack can't avoid them. But then something amazing happens. The more he writes, the more he learns he does have something to say.

With a fresh and deceptively simple style, acclaimed author Sharon Creech tells a story with enormous heart. Written as a series of free-verse poems from Jack's point of view, Love That Dog shows how one boy finds his own voice with the help of a teacher, a writer, a pencil, some yellow paper, and of course, a dog.

This winning, accessible book is truly remarkable in that Creech lets us witness firsthand how words can open doors to the soul. And this from a boy who asks, "Why doesn't the person just / keep going if he's got / so many miles to go / before he sleeps?" (Ages 8 to 12) --Karin Snelson

Dogs Books

• Books > Subjects > Children's Books > Animals
• Social Situations > School
• Literature & Fiction > Poetry