Love That Dog

Love That Dog

By Sharon Creech

Published by HarperCollins (2001)

Reading Level: Ages 9-12

Pages: 128

Genre: Poetry, Modern Realism

Summary: Love that Dog is about a boy named Jack that doesn't like poetry. This whole book is written in poetry. The poems are letters to his teacher. At first Jack doesn't think he is writing poems, then his teacher types them up different and it looks like a poem. He is asked to write a poem about a pet but he doesn't have a pet. He did have a pet be he is reticent to talk about him. Jack really likes the poet Walter Dean Myers and his poem "Love That Boy", it makes Jack want to write about his dog Sky that is called Love That Dog. Slowly over the course of the book we learn more about Sky. He was a yellow dog and Jack always Sky was grateful do have been picked, one day while Sky was out in the yard he chased a ball into the road and got hit by a blue car. Another part of the story is Jack writing to his favorite poet and the poet coming to visit his school and Jack send him a thank you letter and his poem "Love That Dog".

My Reaction: I thought the book was alright. I like how easy it was to read and I thought it was cool how the story of Sky came out through the whole book. I also loved that Jack came to love poetry and started to use it as an outlet. it actually inspired me to write a poem myself, outside of the one required for class. It let out some frustration I had and so I want to write more in the future. I'll probably start like Jack, not wanting anyone to see my work until I've gained a little more experience, but writing poetry is something I want to continue with and I don't think I would have ever thought about that unless I had read this book because I don't think I'm a poet, but neither did Jack.

Potential Problems: Death of a pet.

Recommendations: I would recommend this to 11 and 12 years olds. I think i would also recommend this to animal lovers.