Dear Educator,

His name is Jack. He hates poetry. He'd rather do just about anything else than write a single verse...and your students will LOVE him for it.

Jack is the narrator of Love That Dog by Sharon Creech, a short novel written entirely as a poetry journal. Throughout the story, his teacher Miss Stretchberry gently nudges him through a series of poems until he finds his own voice as a writer.

Sound familiar? Jack is basically every student who has ever told you, "I can't relate to poetry."

Students see themselves in Jack...his reluctance, his frustration, his eventual breakthrough...their perception shifts. The poems stop feeling like assignments and start feeling like possibilities.

I built my Love That Dog Novel Study around exactly this idea. It's a 35-page, print-and-go resource that guides students through the full novel while building real poetry analysis skills at the same time.

Here's an overview of the activities:
✔ Complete 46 journal responses in Jack's voice
✔ Analyze 8 poems from the novel
✔ Identify 6 figurative language terms in context
✔ Complete a character analysis and story map
✔ Work through the writing process as both a reader and writer

It's the perfect National Poetry Month unit because it combines novel study with poetry analysis. You will tackle multiple literacy standards at the same time.

👉 Read more about why this novel works on the blog:
https://mrsbeers.com/sharon-creech-books-make-poetry-fun/

👉 Grab the Love That Dog Novel Study on TPT:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Love-That-Dog-Novel-Study-and-Poetry-Unit-CCSS-Standards-Based-1184279

Happy Poetry Month!

Erin

Erin Beers

Mrs. Beers ELA Classroom

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