Free Verse Novel for Young Adults

Love That Dog

Creech, Sharon. Love That Dog. NY: Harper Collins: Joanna Cotler Books, 2001.

This novel is written in free verse for children and young adults. The book is about a young boy who is not interested in writing poetry at school and believes that writing poetry is for girls. The boy is confused about the concept of poetry as well as the senseless poems his teacher selects to read aloud to the class. Through his imagination, stories of his life happenings, animals, and a well-know poet by the name of Walter Dean Myers, he is able to overcome his mental block on writing poetry and is inspired to create works of his own.

The novel is written in free verse as a dated journal. Many of the peoms give an account of the conversations that take place between the teacher and this child. The boy's poems also give a visual and descriptive image of occurrences that have happened in his life.

As I read the title, I had no idea what the book would entail. As the dated pages unfold, random stories of the boy's life, classroom activities and a dog are told. The dog has been rescued from the Animal Protective Shelter by the boy and his father, his name is Sky. The novel ends with the boy signing his name to a thank you note written to Walter Dean Myers and revealing his name as Jack. Jack then writes a poem inspired by Mr. Myers titled Love That Dog. The back pages of the book contain poems, an apple shape poem and selected verses of poems discussed throughout Jack's journal.

This book is wonderfully written and a must read. It will make you laugh, cry, and bring back childhood memories or remind one of a child that is similar to the character in the book. Children who read the book will realize that this is a different type of poetry with the non-rhyming text. Students will be inspired to pick up a pen or pencil, paper and write their thoughts down.

Extension:

Read from the pages of this book and additional poetry books, pointing out that the words do not rhyme and that not all poetry has to rhyme. Encourage children or youth to copy from the book and create their own works in a dated journal or re-tell the poem in their own words on paper. The children can also illustrate their poems and display these around the school. Have students volunteer to read their poems aloud to an audience. Provide a list with such things as holidays, pets, family, vacation as a starting point for the students to begin their writing.