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Gr 4-8 Jack keeps a journal for his teacher, a charming, spare free-verse monologue that begins: "I don't want to/because boys/don't write poetry./Girls do." But his curiosity grows quickly as Miss Stretchberry feeds the class a varied menu of intriguing poems starting with William Carlos Williams's "The Red Wheelbarrow," which confuses Jack at first. Gradually, he begins to see connections between his personal experiences and the poetry of William Blake, Robert Frost, and others, and Creech's compellingly simple...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

"I don't want to / because boys / don't write poetry. // Girls do." Jack's free-verse journal charts his evolution from doubt to delight in poetry. His teacher, Miss Stretchberry, introduces him to poetry, serves as an advocate for his writing, and flatters him into believing he's a poet. Like an art student diligently copying great masters, Creech has Jack borrowing liberally from the works of others ("Blue car, blue car, shining bright / in the darkness of the night: / who could see you speeding by / like a comet in the sky?") and i...Log In or Sign Up to Read More