Love That Dog

Author: Sharon Creech
Copyright Date: 2001
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Number of Pages: 86
Reading Level: Ages 9 & Up
Genre: Fiction

Summary
This book is about a boy named Jack, who doesn't have much interest in poetry--reading or writing it. The book is written sort-of like a journal in poetic form, with dates of days of his classes and what he does that day. At first, Jack doesn't think his writing is any good, so whenever his teacher (Mrs. Stretchberry) wants to put his poem on the board he asks her to not write his name. He has many poems that he writes, and one is inspired by his favorite poet, Walter Dean Myers. He tells his teacher that they should invite Mr. Myers to visit their class, and she tells him to write him a letter. At first he's afraid to, bu eventually he does. It's over a month until he finally hears from his teacher that Walter Dean Myers is actually coming to visit their school! He's so excited to finally meet him, especially since one of his poems was inspired by him. The book ends with Jack writing a thank you letter to Mr. Walter Dean Myers, and at the end of the letter he includes his poem, "Love That Dog", that was based off of Myers' poem called "Love That Boy".

Reaction
I loved this book. I thought it was a really different, interesting style of writing and it kept you into the story. I also thought the story was absolutely adorable--very fun book!

Recommendations
I would recommend this to any kid who's 9 & up. It's such a fun story and I think a lot of kids would be able to relate to it.

Problems/Conflicts
I didn't see any conflicts in this book.