The Book Shelf: Love that Dog

Love That Dog

Sharon Creech

128 Pages

Ages 9-12

Summary:

Love that dog is a magnificent book designed to get preteens interested in reading and writing poetry. It is written in the first person of a young boy who doesn't want to write poetry because he thinks that it is for girls. However, he is pressed by his teacher who keeps presenting the class with new poetry to expand their mind. Though he doesn't seem to understand the poetry at first, he comes to love and appreciate the joys of poetry. He gets the opportunity to meet his favorite poet who makes a special trip to his school.

I didn't think that I was going to like this book. Perhaps that is mainly because I didn't really bother to find out what it was about. I think the title and the cover in combination didn't really turn me on to the book, but once I started, I could not put it down. It is a quick read, but a wonderful read.

The Original Purpose

This blog actually originated as a class assignment. The first "younger reading" class I took had each student create a different note card for every book they read. The note card was to have all of the information on the book as well as a brief summary and our reaction to what we read. With my children's literature class being the second class that required a similar assignment, I decided that a blog was more practical than trying to find some place to store several hundred 3x5 notecards. Thus the birth of "The Book Shelf." I hope you enjoy my insights.