Creech, S. (2008). Hate the cat. New York: Harper Collins."Hate That Cat" is a short verse novel about a boy named Jack. Jack is studying poetry at school and he has composed a journal of his personal poems that discuss some popular poets and their poetry, and how it relates to his life...more specifically, that pesky black cat.
Personally, I didn't really see any true plot in this book, and there wasn't any true character development. He mainly referred to poets, the black cat, and his dog that he loved. Therefore, I felt like this book was rather hard to follow.
One thing that I really liked in this book was his use of the different elements of poetry. On pg. 14, he mentions alliteration (pattern in which initial consonant sounds are heard frequently within a few lines of poetry), and models it through his writing (Purple pickle, polished, pencil, chocolate, chalk). Then, on pg. 19, he demonstrates an onomatopoeia, a device in which the sound of a words imitates its real world sound (buzz, drip, pop, tinkle, trickle).
On pg. 76 of Creech's book, she allows the main character/narrator to depict a Concrete Poem. The poem is called "The Yellow Chair," and Jack writes the poem in the shape that signifies the subject of the poem, the yellow chair.
Honestly, this wasn't one of my favorite books to read, although it was full of different elements of poetry that could truly enhance students learning.
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