60 pages • 2 hours read
Sharon CreechLove That Dog
Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Middle Grade | Published in 2001A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Pages 42-63Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Pages 42-63 Summary
The class reads a poem by Walter Dean Myers called “Love that Boy,” which Jack instantly adores. He steals the book to copy the poem, which he then tapes to his bedroom ceiling so that he can read it again. He sheepishly apologizes for taking the book without permission.
Jack writes a secret poem about Sky and Miss Stretchberry posts it on the board. Jack tells her not to display the poem as it borrows too many words from Myers’s work, and he doesn’t want to anger his favorite poet. Miss Stretchberry assures Jack that Myers wouldn’t be angry and she adds a caption: “Inspired by Walter Dean Myers” (50). Jack likes the idea but still doesn’t want the poem displayed.
Jack asks if Miss Stretchberry could invite Myers to visit their school. When she suggests that Jack invite the poet himself, he insists that he can’t as “I think Mr. Walter Dean Myers / would like to hear / from a teacher / who uses big words / and knows how / to spell / and / to type” (54). Jack ends up writing the invitation. Miss Stretchberry mails the letter but informs Jack that Myers might not read it for months as the publisher must process it first. Disappointed, Jack stifles his hopes.
Pages 42-63 Analysis
Readers can immediately recognize the significance of Myers’s poem, “Love That Boy,” as it mirrors the book itself.
After reading “Love That Boy,” Jack shows unprecedented enthusiasm. In his excitement, Jack’s syntax (word order) reflects that of children sharing a new obsession. He likes the poem for two reasons: “One is because / my dad calls me / in the morning / just like that / [...] / And also because / when I had my yellow dog / I loved that dog / and I would call him / like this— / I’d say— / Hey there, Sky! / (His name was Sky)” (44-45). Jack’s repetitive syntax—“just like that,” “like this—,” and “I’d say—” (45)—breaks straightforward communication like free verse poetry does prose, his redundancy emphasizing the depth of his feelings. The syntax is also distinctly childlike, which further endears readers to his character and growth.
Jack mirroring other poets was originally framed as unimaginative or uninspired, but a later entry casts this tendency in a different light. Jack hides a poem heavily inspired by Myers’s work, revealing that he feels self-conscious about borrowing from him. But Miss Stretchberry encourages Jack, legitimizing his work by captioning the poem: “Inspired by Walter Dean Myers” (50). The disclaimer relieves Jack, who writes, “Now no one / will think / I just copied / because I / couldn’t think / of my own words” (51). Throughout the book, Miss Stretchberry’s class learns to write based on mentor texts—ones that showcase different poetic conventions such as free form structure and a variety of topics. Myers’s poem sparks Jack’s creativity, which he uses to fuel more of his reading and writing.
Jack still curbs his enthusiasm when insisting that Miss Stretchberry write a better letter to Myers. He finally writes the letter himself, albeit one listing reasons why Myers might not be able to visit: “And the phone is ringing / and the fax is going / and the bills need paying / and sometimes they get sick / (I hope you are not sick, / Mr. Walter Dean Myers)” (56). Though Jack finds many reasons to hold himself back, he still writes to his new hero—which has profound implications later in the book.
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By Sharon Creech
