Love That Dog

Creech, S. (2001).  Love That Dog.  New York:  Harper Collins Publishing.

Love That Dog is a unique 2002 Notable Books for Children novel, because the entire book is written in poetry.  The story revolves around a young boy who is trying to learn to write poetry in class.

Exposition:

The story is told from a first person point of view.  Jack introduces himself by saying that he doesn't want to write poetry because he's a boy.

Conflict:

Jack believes that he can't write poetry, but he must write poetry for his class.  He struggles with putting his emotions down on paper.

Rising Action:

He begins writing everything in short lines to make it look like poetry.  He writes about his reaction to many poems they read in class.  He slowly begins to open up about his dog, who he loved.  He writes a poem about how his dog, Sky was killed when a car hit him.  After reading a poem in class by Walter Dean Myers, he writes one similar about his dog.  He also writes a letter to Walter Dean Myers and invites him to visit his class. 

Climax:

Walter Dean Myers visits Jack's class.

Falling Action:

Jack writes a letter to Walter Dean Myers after his visit to Jack's school.

Resolution:

Jack shares the poem he wrote about his dog that was inspired by the poem by Walter Dean Myers.

Literary Elements:

The book uses a great deal of imagery as Jack begins to expand his writing and starts to put his emotions into words.  Allusion is also used frequently in the story since Jack alludes to many different poems by many different poets.  As he learns about these different poets and their writing styles, he starts to change his own writing style.