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Synopsis
Jack
Room 204—Miss Stretchberry
February 25
Today the fat black cat up in the tree by the bus stop dropped a nut on my head
thunk
and when I yelled at it that fat black cat said
Murr-mee-urrr
in a nasty spiteful way.
I hate that cat.
This is the story of Jack words sounds silence teacher and cat.
Children's Literature
The honest, observant, and expressive Jack is sure about two things: he hates poetry and cats. His journey begins in Miss Stretchberry's classroom where he faces the challenge of expressing himself through poetry. He encounters problems along the way including his Uncle Bill, who, unlike Miss Stretchberry, insists that good poetry consists of long lines, symbolism and regular rhyme and meter. Jack tangles with the likes of alliteration, consonance, metaphors and onomatopoeia, but by the end of the school year he finds new meaning and purpose for such conventions and learns to appreciate the diverse beauties of both sound and silence. His evolving relationship with poetry mirrors his relationships with cats. Jack's initial aversion to felines transforms one Christmas morning when a tiny, mewing kitten crawls from underneath the wrappings scattered around the tree and straight into his heart. Author Sharon Creech invites emerging poets to commiserate with Jack as he learns to navigate the world of poetry and tempts seasoned poets to appreciate her crafty allusions and creative expression. Figurative language, poetic devices and visual word manipulation abound in this book of poetry. Reviewer: Stacey L. Hester