The book that I read is Love That Dog by Sharon Creech. The main characters in my book are Jack and Miss Stretchberry.  Jack is a 12-year old boy, and Miss Stretchberry is Jack’s writing teacher. The main problem in this book is that the boy named Jack had to write a poem and he has trouble because his “brain is empty,” and because he thought that writing a poem was for girls. Miss Stretchberry encouraged Jack to write a poem and to not be afraid.  The setting takes place at Jack’s house in the evening and room 105 at his school in Miss Stretchberry’s class.

One of the important things in the book is that when Jack said writing poems is for girls he remembered that his favorite poet was a boy/man so then he started writing the poem. The poem Jack wrote was about his new dog. He got the dog at an animal shelter, and when he first saw it, it was like the dog chose him. When he brought it home, he played fetch on the street with the dog and all his friends. They were on the street because barely any cars came down the street and there was a sign that said, “Children Playing,” so they were all safe.  Everyone was having fun until a blue car came out of nowhere and turned onto his street.  What happens next, you have to read yourself.

Jack finally did write the poem. Once he was done, he reread it. He liked it, so then he sent his poem to Walter Dean Myers, his favorite poet, to see if he liked it too. Walter Dean Myers didn’t write back right away, and Jack was constantly wondering if Walter Dean Myers would ever write and why he wasn’t writing back.  Two months after Jack sent the letter, Mr. Myers finally wrote back.  He thought Jack’s poem was good. The reason why he wrote back two months after is because Walter Dean Myers had a lot of fan mail. He responds to all the letters and that takes a while.   

I enjoyed the book for a few reasons: I liked that it was a poem; I liked the character of the teacher; and I liked that Jack was brave.  The book was set up in a poem way.  I really liked how it wasn’t exactly a poem, it was a book, but it was written in a poem way with short lines and beautiful language.  For example, when a character was sad, the sun started going down and when a character was happy, the sun came up.  Another reason why I liked the book was because of the teacher, Miss Stretchberry. She encouraged Jack to write his poem.  She was sometimes strict but she was supportive. I also liked how Jack was brave. At first he said that writing a poem was for girls and he really didn’t know how to write a poem. All he knew how to do was write short lines. But in the end, he did write one.

I would recommend this book to 3rd graders and 4th graders because of the good vocabulary and because of some beautiful language.  I also think they would really like the poems (there were poems at the end, too).  I give this book 5 stars.

 *****