Love That Dog

{{Short description|Free verse novel by Sharon Creech}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox book

| name = love that Dog

| title_orig = for loving that Dog and hating that cat

| translator =

| image = Love That Dog.jpg

| caption = The cover of Love That Dog by Sharon Creech

| author = Sharon Creech

| illustrator =

| cover_artist =

| country = United States

| language = English

| series =

| subject =

| genre = Tragedy, Realistic Fiction, Poetry

| publisher = HarperCollins (US)
Bloomsbury(UK)

| pub_date = 2001

| english_pub_date =

| media_type =

| pages = 86 hardback
128 paperback

| isbn = 978-0-06-029287-4

| congress = PZ7.C8615 Lo 2001

| oclc = 45757381

| preceded_by =

| followed_by = Hate that Cat

}}

Love That Dog is a free verse piece written by Sharon Creech and published by HarperCollins. It is written in diary format, in the perspective of a young boy who resists poetry assignments from his teacher.[https://web.archive.org/web/20050721081934/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1000653,00.html A Writer Who's 13 At Heart – TIME] The author drew inspiration from Walter Dean Myers' poem, Love That Boy.[http://sharoncreech.com/novels/01.asp Sharon Creech] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704114308/http://www.sharoncreech.com/novels/01.asp |date=2008-07-04 }} The book received good reviews[https://www.usatoday.com/life/books/reviews/2002-12-11-audiobooks_x.htm USATODAY.com – These good reads make great listens][https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/25/AR2006062500661.html Quick Listens - washingtonpost.com] and was a finalist for the 2001 Carnegie Medal as well as being commended at the 2002 Children's Book Awards.[https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/apr/26/books.booksnews Booker Prize value soars to £50,000 | UK news | The Guardian][https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/jul/13/books.booksnews 'Pied Piper' brings belated literary reward | UK news | The Guardian] The book has also appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list.[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9506E6D6123FF935A25750C0A9659C8B63 BEST SELLERS: March 16, 2003 – New York Times] Love That Dog is composed of multiple short chapters – each chapter is listed as a diary entry. As the novel develops and Jack's confidence grows, so does his literary style. He progresses from short and defiant sentences to more sophisticated poetry. Jack writes many poems, and eventually stops being anonymous.

Jack hints, but only directly tells at the end, that his dog named Sky got run over by a blue car splattered with mud speeding down the road.