Saturday, August 13, 2016

Love That Dog by Sharon Creech


Rating: 

Warning: I knew what I was getting myself into when reading this book and yet I still kept reading and last night I was emotional wrecked by this lovely book.

The emotions I experienced:








Love That Dog deals with a boy named Jack who is learning about Poetry in his classroom and refuses to participate in any assignments dealing with the subject. I can understand him because poetry is a delicate subject to get young kids to appreciate and if you are not careful enough it could ruin the wonderful experience of reading and relating to another human being with the use of words. I do not know about other states but I never divulge myself in poetry until high school because teachers didn't find it necessary to teach kids poetry if it wasn't going to be on a state exam. Once in high school it was too late and some teachers made the experience complicated and ruin the whole fun aspect in poetry.

The book is written like a diary with journal entries and the creative part is written in poetry-style format and the conversation that we witness with Jack is between the teacher and him but the only response we see is only Jack. At first poetry doesn't make sense to him but throughout the school year you see a change in him and how he opens himself to expressing his emotions about poetry and the grief of his dog. When he writes poetry it doesn't make sense at first but once you get the big picture as to what happens to his dog it makes complete sense and I was heartbroken by the end of the book.

I have a soft spot for animals regardless whether it is a dog, cat, bird, elephant, or any other species. Since I currently have a German Shepard, anything that deals with dogs is an easy target for me to open the flood gates and pour my heartache out. Animals are such innocent creatures and it pains me when they are suffering because they should live a long-life full of happiness and love. I knew what was going to happen to his dog and yet I still cried my heart out. I believe the book is utter brilliant in showing young readers that with poetry it has a wide window for creativity.

It is such a short and simple book that I highly recommend everyone to read regardless if you are a kid or a grown adult. Plus whats cool is the poems that Jack references in his entries are available in the back so if you liked any of those poems then you have a marvelous opportunity to discover poets and their creative works. 

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