Title: Love That Dog / Hate That Cat
Author: Sharon Creech
# Of Pages: 128/148
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date: April 8, 2008/ September 23, 2008
Source: Library
Level: Middle Grade
Rating: 2 Hearts / 3 Hearts
Synopsis
(From Amazon)
Love That Dog-
Jack
Room 105 - -Miss Stretchberry
September 13
I don't want to
because boys
don't write poetry.
Girls do
But before he knows it Jack is creating his own poetry and a
wonderful story emerges as he becomes interested in this thing that 'girls do'!
Not only is Jack inspired to write to his favourite poet, but the poet agrees
to visit, and Jack discovers how much more there is to poetry behind the words
on the page. A lovely, loving and very impressive novel that defies definition.
Hate That Cat-
Jack
Room 204—Miss Stretchberry
February 25
Today the fat black cat
up in the tree by the bus stop
dropped a nut on my head
thunk
and when I yelled at it
that fat black cat said
Murr-mee-urrr
in a
nasty
spiteful
way.
I hate that cat.
This is the story of
Jack
words
sounds
silence
teacher
and
cat.
My Verdict
There are two types of middle grade books; those
specifically geared for middle graders, and those with enough depth for all
ages. These books fell into the first category.
Told in a series of journal entries, Jack communicates to
his teacher Miss Stretchberry about his thoughts on poetry. Every time his
class learns about a new type of poem or famous poet, Jack writes a poem
inspired by them about events in his own life.
Out of the two, I enjoyed Hate That Cat a lot more than the
first. I think Jack’s personality came through a lot more than in the first. I
liked his sense of humor, he definitely had me smiling =)
He also used the word tintinnabulation is a sentence, which
was one of my Wordlover Wednesday Words!
As a 22 year-old, I didn’t particularly get a lot from these
stories but I do think they would be good books for their specific age bracket.
They both touch on different types of poetry, being embarrassed to put your
name on something you’ve created, and most importantly it turns a boy who’s
reluctant to write poetry into a boy who loves poetry.
Aw, these sound cute -- if I need a MG gift, I'll keep these in mind! Thanks so much for stopping by! Jen @ YA Romantics
ReplyDeleteThe concept of the book, how you put it in your last sentence actually sounds quite good :)
ReplyDeleteThese sound cute. I really don't ever read MG (just not my thing) but I always pay attention to the good ones just in case I need a gift!
ReplyDelete