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My junior year in college I took my favorite course of all time, adolescent literature. It was the year I discovered books from my adolescence I hadn’t known existed before, books like HATCHET and JACOB HAVE I LOVED. It was the year I fell in love with newer titles, like THE TRUE CONFESSIONS OF CHARLOTTE DOYLE and LONG NIGHT DANCE. It was the year Sharon Creech won the Newbery for her gorgeous WALK TWO MOONS.
I continued to read Sharon’s books over the years, the impossible-to-put down ABSOLUTELY NORMAL CHAOS, the feels-like-home-to-this-gal-who-attended-international-school BLOOMABILITY, the simple and stunning verse novel, HEARTBEAT, and this gem, LOVE THAT DOG.
The poem below I started a few years ago after first reading DOG. Last year, after a second reading, I pulled it out and worked on it again.
With the #SharpSchu book club scheduled to discuss LOVE THAT DOG and MAY B. on April 24, this felt like the perfect time to share.
Thank you, Sharon, for writing words that pushed me to respond. The kindness of the children’s literature community never ceases to touch me. Still pinching myself that the author I discovered in college knows who I am!
Words count.
All words,
and giving voice to those children
who don’t yet know their power
is to open the world.
Mrs. Stretchberry
knows how to woo her student Jack,
understands how to draw from him
phrases that play with shapes and sounds,
stanzas that speak to the pain
of loss
and love
and memory.
During a school year
where poetry is a regular part of things,
words work deep,
settle,
unfold,
grow
as Jack does
from a boy who thinks
writing poetry is to
“make
short
lines”
to one who finds the courage —
through the structure, voice,
and style of others —
to speak his own.
Read the entire poem at Mr. Schu’s Watch. Connect. Read.
I love Sharon Creech too and her latest The Great Unexpected is also superb! Sharon Creech’s Hate That Cat got me to look at poetry as something that is not scary. So happy to see you post on her today!
Thank you, Mia. I still haven’t read HATE THAT CAT but need to. Read THE GREAT UNEXPECTED just a few months ago and loved those characters.
I am just finding your site! Where have I been? I read the entire Love That Dog in one sitting to my 3rd graders. I wait until they have been immersed in poetry for months. Then I take a quiet chunk of time and the listen intently. The learn so much from Jack and Miss Stretchberry. They are aghast when he says in the beginning, boys don’t write poems, girls do….they know better. I love how they see that there is a way to tell a story in diary form, in verse, that honors, poets, poetry, teachers and kids. I also read Hate That Cat when I can fit it in. I love Sharon Creech for two many reasons to name. You might be interested in what I do with kids and I was a guest blogger on Irene Latham’s Live Your Poem on April 7 for the Progressive Poem 2013. The gist is that poetry is at the heart of my literacy program. During the course of the school year the children learn over 40 poems by heart as a group, read tons of poems and write them, too. We perform at a June poetry recital to the joy and amazement of family and friends, but mainly their teacher! I can’t wait to go back and read more of your blog. I can tell that I am going to love it and learn so much. I was having tech difficulties with scrolling about, but I saw a Paul Hankins interview and your acrostic poems. I can’t wait to get to know you better!!.
Janet F.
Janet, I adore this! I used to wrap up my poetry months with a “coffee house” for my sixth graders. It was such a celebration. Your room sounds like a place I’d love to spend time. And it sounds like your kiddos feel the same way.
Let me know if you’d like to be a part of National Poetry Month next year, I’d love to hear more via a guest post.
Oh, so sorry for the typos. A couple of theys are missing the y… if you can fix, thanks. I couldn’t see how I could edit. Duh. When I rush I miss things.
Yes, I would love to be part of your site next year. My email is jfagal at gmail dot com! If you get a chance to read my guest blog on Irene’s blog, there is a link to a video of my kids at a recital, though not the one in June!! It has slightly less sparkle, but this is actually the best part. They have not been together since June and is end of Sept. Barely a rehearsal, either. I have an old website called poetryonparade dot com if you want to check it out. There is a lovely poem written by a woman who does our school’s PR, but she is someone who loves the poetry nights and it does capture what we do. I am going to subscribe by email so I can get your posts and keep up with what you are doing. I love to find kindred spirits online. I am looking for some closer to home. I am recently retired after a long career but am launching a second one as a visiting poet and poetry teacher in the schools! I volunteer in my old school in a friend’s 3rd grade so I can keep on doing poetry. I always get the same reaction. The kids adore poetry “my way”…..no pressure, no test, no homework….no requirement to participate yet they all do. And it teaches so much in such a short package. I could go on and on. Are you still teaching? I blend in poems the kids write with a wide variety of published poets’ work. I also do not underestimate what 3rd graders will be interested in!!!
I stopped teaching four years ago, as I was having a hard time doing everything well. But I miss it. That’s what makes school visits so fun. I’m writing down your email for next year. Off to see your post at Irene’s!
Thank you for sharing this…and yep I am tearing up. It is so true what you say about the kindness of the childrens literature community. You all rock and are so good at what you do because of the passion that drives you.
Thank you, Deb. I was at a writing conference this weekend and tried to talk about LOVE THAT DOG and what it means to me. I didn’t get far without tearing up. It is amazing that work that is so solitary to begin with can make such far-reaching and meaningful connections.