Love That Dog: Library Edition

Creech, Sharon

ISBN 10: 1605146544 ISBN 13: 9781605146546

Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens, 2008

Synopsis

Newbery Medal Winner Sharon Creech's remarkable novel about how words can change your life.With a fresh and deceptively simple style, acclaimed author Sharon Creech tells a story with enormous heart. Written as a series of free-verse poems from a young student's point of view, Love That Dog shows how one boy finds his own voice with the help of a teacher, a writer, a pencil, some yellow paper, and of course, a dog.”This is the perfect [audio] for the millions of boys who think they hate poetry.” -- USA TodaySharon Creech is the author of the Newbery Medal winner Walk Two Moons and the Newbery Honor winner The Wanderer. Her other novels include The Castle Corona, Replay, Heartbeat, Ruby Holler, Love That Dog, Bloomability, Absolutely Normal Chaos, Chasing Redbird, and Pleasing the Ghost, as well as three picture books: A Fine, Fine School; Fishing in the Air; and Who's That Baby? After spending eighteen years teaching and writing in Europe, Sharon Creech and her husband have returned to the United States to live.Scott Wolf's theatre credits include Side Man on Broadway, Far East, and Dead End at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. His movies include White Squall and The Evening Star. For six seasons he was seen as Bailey Salinger on Party of Five on Fox Television.

About this title

Review:

Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech's Love That Dog, a funny, sweet, original short novel written in free verse, introduces us to an endearingly unassuming, straight-talking boy who discovers the powers and pleasures of poetry. Against his will. After all, "boys don't write poetry. Girls do." What does he say of the famous poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"? "I think Mr. Robert Frost / has a little / too / much / time / on his / hands." As his teacher, Ms. Stretchberry, introduces the canon to the class, however, he starts to see the light. Poetry is not so bad, it's not just for girls, and it's not even that hard to write. Take William Carlos Williams, for example: "If that is a poem / about the red wheelbarrow / and the white chickens / then any words / can be a poem. / You've just got to / make / short / lines." He becomes more and more discerning as the days go by, and readers' spirits will rise with Jack's as he begins to find his own voice through his own poetry and through that of others. His favorite poem of all is a short, rhythmic one by Walter Dean Myers called "Love That Boy" (included at the end of the book with all the rest of Ms. Stretchberry's assignments). The words completely captivate him, reminding him of the loving way his dad calls him in the morning and of the way he used to call his yellow dog, Sky. Jack's reverence for the poem ultimately leads to meeting the poet himself, an experience he will never forget.

This winning, accessible book is truly remarkable in that Creech lets us witness firsthand how words can open doors to the soul. And this from a boy who asks, "Why doesn't the person just / keep going if he's got / so many miles to go / before he sleeps?" (Ages 8 to 12) --Karin Snelson

From the Back Cover:

Jack

Room 105 -- Miss Stretchberry

September 13

I don't want to
because boys
don't write poetry.

Girls do.

Meet Jack, who tells his story with a little help from some paper, a pencil, his teacher, and a dog named Sky.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1605146544
• ISBN 13: 9781605146546
• Binding: Preloaded Digital Audio Player