My pleasure while reading Sharon Creech's Love That Dog (2001) just could not be contained as evidenced by the Cheshire grin plastered on my face from the beginning to end of this novella. Related in free verse from the perspective of Jack through dated entries that span a school year, Love That Dog is quite charming and delightful.
On the surface, Love That Dog is a story about a boy who learns to appreciate and write poetry. On a deeper level, however, it is a story of a boy who, through poetry, finally finds a way to mourn the loss and honor the memory of his beloved rescue dog, Sky. Through his year-long exposure to poetry, Jack discovers the magic of poetry and writing, which enables him to express his thoughts and feelings, and ultimately tap into the power of his own voice.
Jack's voice is completely authentic and endearing. Seeing his growth from resistant, to grudgingly compliant, to insecure, to confident, to independent, and ultimately to inspired in response to his teacher's poem assignments quite thrilled me. His ownership of his writing in the end (by asking his teacher to teach him to use a computer so that he could type his poems himself) activated the joy that comes from witnessing a student's process of discovery.
Jack's poems gain some sophistication. It this through those entries that Creech conveys Jack's academic and emotional growth. He integrates lines from the poems his teacher Miss Strechberry introduces him to, plays around with repetition, and includes some word play and figurative language. Jack is also effusive and verbose in expressing his joy over a school visit from his favorite poet/writer, Walter Dean Myers, whose poem "Love That Boy" inspired his own. That Jack's school year ends in such a special way for him emphasizes the many uplifting aspects of this story.
Love That Dog is all-together wonderful, if only seemingly too short because I wanted more. :)
Crossposted at CBR9.
Crossposted at CBR9.
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