Poem of the Week/Braddy Reads Love That Dog

Love That Dog

By Sharon Creech
Inspired by Walter Dean Myers

Love that dog,
like a bird loves to fly
I said I love that dog
like a bird loves to fly
Love to call him in the morning
love to call him
"Hey there, Sky!"

***

So I had a conversation with my teacher friend the other day regarding how to best teach students how to write poetry. The best I could tell her was to give her students good examples of poems and have them imitate the forms for their own writings.

After we finished our exchange, I remembered that I've seen that exact method used in a novel before. Specifically, this novel.

Although I have to say, calling Sharon Creech's Love That Dog a "novel" is is a bit of a stretch. The book's 86 pages long, and can be read in ten or fifteen minutes. The story's about Jack, a young boy just learning how to write poetry. As Through the process of writing poetry (not to mention reading great poems from Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, and Walter Dean Myers), Jack's poetry improves, and he is able to confront some personal issues as well.

Seriously, it's a twenty-minute read. I can't recommend it enough.