Happy Sunday!! What did you do with your extra hour this morning? I snuggled on the sofa with my puppies and dozed a little bit more. I was determined to get that “extra hour of sleep” despite the fact my dogs still got up on the old schedule. 😛
I wanted to link up with Collaboration Cuties for a fun mentor text today that I learned about from my BBB, Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper!
Amazon’s description is: Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech’s Love That Dog, a funny, sweet, original short novel written in free verse, introduces us to an endearingly unassuming, straight-talking boy who discovers the powers and pleasures of poetry. Against his will. After all, “boys don’t write poetry. Girls do.” He becomes more and more discerning as the days go by, and readers’ spirits will rise with Jack’s as he begins to find his own voice through his own poetry and through that of others. His favorite poem of all is a short, rhythmic one by Walter Dean Myers called “Love That Boy” (included at the end of the book with all the rest of Ms. Stretchberry’s assignments). The words completely captivate him, reminding him of the loving way his dad calls him in the morning and of the way he used to call his yellow dog, Sky. Jack’s reverence for the poem ultimately leads to meeting the poet himself, an experience he will never forget.
I must warn you though, there is a moment that made me cry. Jack shares something about the dog he used to have… and why he doesn’t have it anymore. :o( You see all of his previous writing tie into that poem, and it makes so much sense, so I think the kids will really “get” it. And I hope they’ll see, there are so many TYPES of poetry that can be written!
I want to use this book to introduce poetry to my students. I think before I read it with them, though, I am going to show them some of the poetry the boy discusses in the book. I have found links to the poems that Jack’s teacher reads to them that he refers to, if you’d also like to expose your students to these poems, too!
