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Christopher Award
Mitten Award (Michigan)
Claudia Lewis Poetry Award
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"[A] really special triumph."
--Kirkus *Starred Review*
"Readers will love that dog, and this book."
--Publishers Weekly
(*Starred Review*)
"This book is a tiny treasure."
--School Library Journal (*starred
review*)
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When I wrote this story, I'd only met Walter Dean Myers once. I suspected early on in writing this story that Myers' poem would be important to Jack, but I was surprised when Walter Dean Myers himself entered the story. I was worried about that--not sure if I could have a living person as a character in my story. I tried to get Walter Dean Myers out of the story, but his absence left a big, empty hole. The whole story pivots on his poem and his influence on Jack.
Read more...
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Love That Dog is the story of Jack, his dog, his teacher,
and words. The story develops through Jack's responses
to his teacher, Miss Stretchberry, over the course
of a school year. At first, his responses are short
and cranky: "I don't want to" and "I tried. Can't
do it. Brain's empty." But as his teacher feeds him
inspiration, Jack finds that he has a lot to say and
he finds ways to say it.
Jack is both stubborn and warm-hearted,
and he can be both serious and funny. Although he
hates poetry at first, he begins to find poems that
inspire him. All year long, he is trying to find a
way to talk about his beloved dog, Sky, and the poems
his teacher offers him eventually give him a way to
do that.
Jack becomes especially fond of a poem by Walter Dean
Myers titled "Love That Boy," and it is this poem
that finally gives Jack a way to tell the whole story
of his dog, Sky. In gratitude, Jack invites Walter
Dean Myers to visit his class.
Walter Dean Myers' poem, "Love That Boy", has been
hanging on my bulletin board for the past three or
four years. It's at eye level, so I probably glance
at it a dozen times a day. I love that poem--there
is so much warmth and exuberance in it. (The poem
is reprinted at the back of Love That Dog.)
One day as I glanced at this poem, I started thinking
about the much-loved boy in Myers' poem. I wondered
what that boy might love. Maybe a pet? A dog? Maybe
also a teacher? And whoosh--out jumped Jack's voice.
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Our straggly
shaggy dog, Tia.
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