A young guy named Jack (maybe 10 or 11 years old) initially resists his teacher's request that he writes poems because "boys don't write poems, girls do." But as the book (which is made up entirely of Jack's poems) goes on, Jack figures out the secret of writing poems ("just make the lines short"). So, through poetry, he shares the story of his deceased dog and his love of author and fellow poet Walter Dean Myers.

A very quick read. Funny and sad. Sharon Creech seems to get into the head of her main character and let him write great poetry without making him sound overly sophisticated. The book also features some famous poems (e.g. William Carlos Williams and Robert Frost), which are alluded to in the text and included in full in the back of the book. ( )

"No tengo mascotas así que no puedo escribir sobre una y, sobre todo, no puedo escribir un poema sobre una”, dice Jack. Y ésta es la historia donde encuentra su voz con la ayuda de papel, lápiz, maestra y perro".

Nobody warned us but the dog is dead in this book. ( )

This is a story in poems of a boy who hates poetry working through his poetry assignments and coming to love some poetry. This sounds way less interesting than the story is for through his poems he also asks a favorite poet to come visit his school and he does! He also tells through several stories about the dog he had and loved and who died. I would put the reading as good for probably 3rd to 5th or even 6th grade. It would be a good option for a reluctant poet since the main character is also a reluctant poet.