Love That Dog

Creech, Sharon. HarperTrophy (March 1, 2003).
*Appropriate for grades 3-6*

This is the story of Jack, a reluctant poet in Miss Stretchberry's class. Through a series of journal-style prose, Jack relates his experiences with the new poems introduced to him by his teacher. He has a special affinity for "Love That Boy," by Walter Dean Meyers. Jack remains steadfast in his belief that he cannot create poetry, however, every word he writes turns out to be poetic. As a result of his writing, we learn about Jack's feelings about the loss of his dog, Sky.

• Students will notice that Jack uses Meyers' work as a mentor text for his new poem, "Love That Dog."
  
• This book has proven to be a wonderful teaching tool for different forms of poetry within my class: Creech includes all of the classic poems introduced by Miss Stretchberry at the end of the book.
  
• Ask students to choose one of these poems to use as a mentor text for their own work (you will have many creative responses from those who choose the apple shape poem).