Love That Dog

Author: Sharon Creech
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Copyright: 2003
Genre: Poetry
Pages: 128
Reading Level: Ages 8 to 12 (Barnes and Noble)
Summary: This is a book of poems written by a young boy named Jack. It is how he transitions from not liking poetry to starting to like and understand some poetry. He particularly likes one poet. This poet wrote a poem called ”Love That Boy.” Jack writes his own poem called “Love That Dog.” He is afraid that the poet might get mad at him for using too many of his words. Jack’s teacher tells him he should write to the poet and see if he would come to their school and talk to their class. He finally does and the poet says he would love to come. The boy is very happy that the author came and the author reads his poem “Love That Dog” and says that it makes him happy that he was able to inspire someone. The reader learns from Jack’s poems that his dog had been hit by a blue car that just drove off after the accident. His poems are all about the accident and seem to show Jack trying to cope with the death of his dog. The book is written in the form of Jack’s poems and what he tells he talks to his teacher about.
Who would you recommend this book to? I would recommend this book to any child. Whether they like poetry or not, it's a good book to help them see that poetry can be very simple and enjoyable and yet see that we don't have to like all poetry.
Potential problems or conflicts: I don't see any potential problems or conflicts with this book.
My reaction: I think this was a really good book. I liked how simple it was but how profound it is. It's one of those books that can really help people gain an appreciation for poetry.