Hate That Cat

Creech, S. (2010) Hate That Cat. New York: Harper Collins.

Jack is back for another year with Miss Stretchberry and poetry. Jack is now learning about how poets use sound in their poetry in the form of alliteration, assonance, and onomatopoeia. But Jack keeps wondering how people can experience sound in poetry by just reading it. His concern stems from his own mother. He wants to share his poems with her but she is deaf. How can she experience what he does without hearing it? Jack is also learning to love a new pet, a kitten. He's not sure about cats, especially after a bad experience with a stray black cat. But when his kitten goes missing and is saved by the black cat, Jack learns that maybe things are more than they seem.

I am currently teaching this book, along with Love that Dog, and Inside Out & Back Again. My students are enjoying the continuation of Jack's story. What they don't recognize are the techniques or the quality of poetry that Miss Stretchberry uses to teach.  And as we talk about the book, they slowly learn to appreciate it, as do my kids reading Love that Dog. Jack is a relatable character, especially for my boys. But as Jack learned to write and appreciate poetry, so did they.