“Love that Dog”

“Love that Dog” is a book by Shanon Creech which tells the story of a kid in Mrs Strachberry’s poetry class from the kid’s point of view. In fact this is a diary the teacher requires from each of her students to write. What is interesting about it is that the reader has to fill in the gaps, mainly the teacher’s part, inferring from the students’ numerous replies to her.

There are many reasons why I chose to read this book with my class:

• To let them go through the stages the writer experiences, from complete refusal to cooperate to being fully involved in the process.
• To expose them to poetry in a subtle way.
• To make them read, guess, infer, fill in gaps and enjoy it  all along
• In order to overcome their fear of writing, show them that everyone can write even if at first it might seem inconceivable.
• To make them experience writing freely and enjoy it.
• To start a diary between me and the class sharing one’s feelings about the lesson and in general.                                                       “Love that Dog” has proved to be everything I had expected. Students related to the touching story of a kid who gradually reveals the story of his dog through the poems he writes in Mrs Stachberry’s class, directly inspired by the poems she teaches.