Love that Dog by Sharon Creech

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was great to see something written from a kid's point of view. I think this would be great to bring into my classroom during my poetry unit in order to show kids that poetry does not have to take on one particular form. Just writing down your thoughts can be a form of poetry. I also like how Jack puts in everything he is thinking and never would have expected Mr. Walter Dean Myers to actually come to his school and then he actually does. This shows children that they should embrace their dreams and ideas, even if they seem impossible to reach. It is great to see Jack grow in becoming more and more comfortable with poetry. At one point, he says "I guess it does look like a poem when you see it typed like that" and at another part he is finally able to allow his teacher put his name on his poetry. It is also great to see the development of the dog throughout his poetry. This shows that seeing examples of poetry really does have a great impact on students because he was able to take what he saw in class and use it in his own poetry. He starts to add descriptions and images and finally is comfortable enough to talk about the death of his dog. It is great how much Jack's mind changed through the course of the year about his view of poetry. In the beginning he refuses to even write an poetry and by the end of the book, he is so inspired by poetry that he takes his favorite and puts it on the wall above his bed. Also, he is scared at first to show Mr. Myers his poem inspired by him but in the end you can really see how much more confidence he has in his own writing when he decides to send his poem. I like how the author of this book let it be all of Jack's thoughts and did not put any of her own writing into the book. This book teaches students the many different functions of writing including; letters, poetry, getting out your feeling, etc. It is a great read for students to be inspired and also for teachers to learn a great way to go about poetry. The poems in the back are a great resource for teachers to use.