Title: Love That Dog
Author: Sharon Creech
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0060292873
Love That Dog by Sharon Creech is a collection of poems that will inspire children to find enjoyment in reading and writing several forms of poetry, just as the main character does. The collection of poems follows Jack, in journal form, as he comes to enjoy poetry and begins to use his life experiences to write it.
You see, at the start of his journey, Jack thinks that only girls write poetry and that his "brain's empty", just as many children do. Creech does an amazing job using Jack's voice to express what many of us feel about poetry. She does an even better job making the reader realize how easily poetry can enrich our lives.
As the poems progress, Jack finds that his brain is actually filled with lots of things to write about. Some of those things are painful, like the loss of his dog, Sky. As we move through Jack's slow progression coming to terms with his feelings about his dog, Jack suddenly becomes inspired by writer Walter Dean Meyers. This inspiration gives Jack the strength to write a special poem about the death of his dog. By the end, Jack find that poetry can not only be fun, but can provide an outlet for dealing with painful memories.
Newbery Metal winner, Sharon Creech, incorporates several styles of poetry in "Jack's work". The shape poem being one of my favorites. Creech also includes the poetry of inspiration; Robert Frost, Arnold Adoff, and Walter Dean Myers to name a few. This combination makes Love That Dog a wonderful classroom tool to inspire students to write in their own way and in their own time based on the work of some of the most loved poets.
As we learned in yesterday's class, our knowledge about poetry is more intuitive than we know. Poetry often tells a story that can be sometimes funny and sometimes painful. It can be easy to follow or it can leave us scratching our heads. Sharon Creech leaves me feeling that poetry is at its best when you just let it happen, as Jack does in Love That Dog.
I love this review! I am not familiar with Sharon Creech's poetry, but I have read Walk Two Moons. I will definitely check it out now. I think that it's great how the poems all tell one story and that many different types of poems are incorporated.
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful book to introduce the magic of poetry to a slightly older (3-5 grade) students. I love this book. It might be intimidating for someone that is unfamiliar with its format, but it is a quick read and so well done. Love Sharon Creech. Really fabulous choice, Sarah. You pick real quality books.
ReplyDeleteFrom this review it is clear that this is an excellent book to use to introduce and encourage children to write poetry. Your descriptions of the book paints a clear picture of how Creech uses poetry to tell his story. While I was unaware of this book prior to your post, it is something I will purchase for future use in my classroom. It touches close to home as I too always had a problem coming up with ideas when writing poetry.
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