Love That Dog
novel by Sharon Creech
Love That Dog is a free verse piece written by Sharon Creech and published by HarperCollins. It is written in diary format, in the perspective of a young boy who resists poetry assignments from his teacher. The author drew inspiration from Walter Dean Myers' poem, Love That Boy. The book received good reviews and was a finalist for the 2001 Carnegie Medal as well as being commended at the 2002 Children's Book Awards. The book has also appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list.
Book Overview
Plot
Jack starts the school year insisting that "boys don't write poetry," but through the patient guidance of his teacher, Miss Stretchberry, he begins to express his grief over his lost dog, Sky. Love That Dog is composed of multiple short chapters – each chapter is listed as a diary entry. As the novel develops and Jack's confidence grows, so does his literary style. He progresses from short and defiant sentences to more sophisticated poetry. Jack writes many poems, and eventually stops being anonymous.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Love That Dog” as novel by Sharon Creech. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as novel by Sharon Creech. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6691403. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2001 and 2002.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Love That Dog” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.