Sharon Creech

This book is a hilarious and insightful look into a young boy, Jack, growing to love poetry and gaining self-confidence. At first, he is almost antagonistic toward poetry, but as time goes on, he learns to love it. As he writes his own and becomes more and more vulnerable, gently encouraged by his teacher, he slowly gains confidence in his own voice. The text brilliantly circles back on itself, revealing more and more about Jack's relationship with a dog he deeply loves.
I loved this one! show more It's extremely relatable, picking at ideas like poetry is just for girls, confusing, or irrelevant. The teacher reflects what we are all aiming for in creating space to try new things and grow in unexpected ways. It's also just hysterical at times. Jack's blunt commentary cracked me up. And I may or may not have cried at the end when you learn that Jack has been trying to share something really impactful from the very beginning. show less

One of my all-time favorite novels ever, this quirky, funny, heartwarming book touched my imagination and my spirit. I never get tired of it.

Salamanca Tree Hiddle loves her farm life in Bybanks, Kentucky; she loves the swimming hole and the trees, the cozy house and the animals. She most definitely does not like it when her father uproots her to move to Ohio, where their next-door neighbor is a woman Sal's dad is a little too friendly with. Several years earlier, Sal's mother left their show more family and shattered everything, and Sal still isn't healed.

But everything is destined to change during one wild school year in Sal's new home.

The novel is told through a series of stories about her time in Ohio that Sal relates to her two eccentric grandparents, during a roadtrip they are taking to find her mother in time for her birthday. Through those tales, Sal tells Gram and Gramps about her time in Ohio; strange and paranoid girl-next-door Phoebe, who has problems with her own family and believes in lunatics; wild and wonderful English teacher Mr. Birkway and the journals he has them write; unusual Ben Finney, who draws cartoons and seems to have a soul that mirrors Sal's; the life lesson messages that mysteriously appear on her doorstep; and finally, the truth about her mother's disappearance. And between her time in Ohio and the fateful trip with her grandparents, Sal's life will have changed forever.

In this profound, quirky, and multilayered story of love, loss, acceptance, family, poetry, and discovery, many stories weave together to become one; the story of people learning how to walk two moons in one another's shoes. It never fails to awe me. show less

Love That Dog is a book in the form of a free-verse journal written by the main character, Jack. Jack is a fourth grader, resistant to writing and to poetry--insisting "it's for girls" but his encouraging teacher motivates him to experiment with the format. There is sort of a story within the story as the class reads classic poems together and tries to identify and replicate certain style elements of the various forms and authors. As Jack gains confidence he also begins to see that show more expressing himself in his journal allows him to process some grief over the death of his dog. This is such a sweet and touching story. I love the way Sharon Creech is able to write from a child's point of view so authentically and poignantly. show less

I don't know how many times I've read this book. Dozens. I have listened to the audiobook so many times too. This is a story that has always devastated me at the end, although it's also got a beautiful hopefulness to it. It's hard to remember the first time I read it, having read it so many times, but I don't think I figured out the ending before I got there. Of course, I was probably around 12 when I read it the first time... but I guess I just believed what I was told in the story and show more didn't think something else might be going on. The multiple levels of the story (Sal's, Phoebe's, and Sal's grandparents') have affected me differently at different times. It's interesting to have a book I've read across so much of my life and how the point I'm at in my life changes my focus, but no matter what the story always moves me. show less