ShmoopTube

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[Coop and Dino singing]

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“Love That Dog” by Sharon Creech. [Man reading Love That Dog]

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It’s a novel about a boy named Jack and his dog Sky.

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OR IS IT?

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In many ways, “Love That Dog” is so much more than just a novel,

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because it's written as a poem. [hand swipes away novel]

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And since it tells a story, we know that it's not just any poem, but a narrative poem.

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In order to get a better idea about how this work is different from any other novel, how about

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we look at the very first page of the book?

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Now does that look like the start of a novel to you? Not quite. Mostly because it only

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has a small handful of words on the entire page. [Arrow points to poem]

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The publisher probably hated that.

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“September 13

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I don't want to because boys

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don't write poetry.

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Girls do.”

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Okay, so what can we gather from this page? Well, it seems to be written from the perspective [Jack sitting down at a table]

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of Jack, and it seems like he's writing in his journal about how he doesn't want to write

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poetry, because apparently his teacher has asked him to.

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That's quite a lot of information to be gathered from such a small number of words, isn’t it?

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If we turn to the next page, what do we see? [Novel turns page]

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“September 21

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I tried. Can't do it.

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Brain's empty.”

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From this, we start to get the feeling that Jack isn't too happy. He seems frustrated [Jack stands up and walks away]

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about his inability to come up with ideas for writing poetry.

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He's upset that he tried and failed. Now we know even more about Jack and how he's feeling.

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We’ve been there, felt that.

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Let's try one more page.

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“September 27

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I don't understand the poem about

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the red wheelbarrow and the white chickens

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and why so much depends upon

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them.

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If that is a poem about the red wheelbarrow

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and the white chickens then any words

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can be a poem. You've just got to

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make short

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lines.”

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Here, we can see that Jack is still frustrated, but appears to be analyzing and thinking about [Jack thinking about poems]

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poems a bit more now.

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In fact, he's decided that “anything” can be a poem if you write it in short lines,

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and so he's written in short lines…

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…showing us that he’s at least attempting to write his own poems. [Jack playing a guitar]

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And that’s the power of poetry. With such little text, the author has been able to tell

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us so much about what's going on and how Jack is feeling.

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Even the spacing and line length tell us more about him and his inner struggle.

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And it's definitely a narrative poem because it's telling a story.[Coop discussing narrative poems]

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Even in three short pages, we have a beginning,

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a middle, and an end – a small story within a larger one.

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At the beginning, Jack is told to write a poem and doesn't want to. [Teacher approaches Jack and asks him to write a poem]

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In the middle, he has tried but feels like he fails.

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And finally, at the end, Jack has analyzed and studied poetry and figured out how he

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might be able to do it, so he writes his own poem. Sorta kinda.

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As you read the rest of the book, continue to think about how this style of narrative [Man reading book]

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poetry tells a story and reveals the plot.

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But also keep in mind that narrative poetry can show us characters' emotions and feelings,

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and explore thoughts, themes, ideas, and different perspectives.

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Oh, and while you're looking for all of that, don't forget to enjoy reading it, too! [Waiter serving Love That Dog poem]

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Sorry. We know we just put a lot on your plate.

Full Transcript