Love That Dog

Love That Dog by Sharon Creech was an interesting book to read. At first I was not excited to read it because I have never been a big fan of poems. When I was growing up, I think I had a very specific image of what a poem should be. Rhymes, short, intense, meaningful. But reading this book gave me a different perspective on what a poem should be. I really liked that the teacher was always encouraging the student to keep writing and made him feel secure about the poems he was writing. It made me wonder if anything could be considered a poem. How do you decide if something is a poem or if it isn't? Can anyone string together words and call it a poem? Was he writing poems? Or were they more like journal entries? It would be interesting to read the second book from Sharon Creech. It might help me clear up what I believe a poem should be.