The Poet's Dog

by Patricia MacLachlan (Author)

The Poet's Dog
Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade

From Newbery Medal winner Patricia MacLachlan comes a poignant story about two children, a poet, and a dog and how they help one another survive loss and recapture love.

3 starred reviews. "Just what I needed," raves Brightly. "It's a heart-warming story of loss and love that filled me with hope for a better future and renewed my belief in good."

Teddy is a gifted dog. Raised in a cabin by a poet named Sylvan, he grew up listening to sonnets read aloud and the comforting clicking of a keyboard. Although Teddy understands words, Sylvan always told him there are only two kinds of people in the world who can hear Teddy speak: poets and children.

Then one day Teddy learns that Sylvan was right. When Teddy finds Nickel and Flora trapped in a snowstorm, he tells them that he will bring them home--and they understand him. The children are afraid of the howling wind, but not of Teddy's words. They follow him to a cabin in the woods, where the dog used to live with Sylvan . . . only now his owner is gone.

As they hole up in the cabin for shelter, Teddy is flooded with memories of Sylvan. What will Teddy do when his new friends go home? Can they help one another find what they have lost?

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Kirkus Reviews

Starred Review

A quiet, elegant, poignant story suffused with humor, heart, and goodness. 

Publishers Weekly

Newbery Medalist MacLachlan creates a spare, moving tale told from the perspective of Teddy, the dog of the title. Teddy can speak, but only poets and children can understand him, so Teddy isn't surprised when both Nicholas (Nickel) and his younger sister, Flora, ask him for help when they get lost in a snowstorm. Since the death of his owner and friend, Sylvan, Teddy has relied on Sylvan's student, Ellie, for care. But Ellie and Teddy know that the arrangement isn't forever, and Teddy needs to find a way to move on and love again. Using simple words that even youngest readers will understand and enjoy, MacLachlan tackles subjects such as death and mourning with understated grace ("And he closes his eyes, his hands still on my neck. By the time Ellie gets there he is still. Silence"). Overarching themes of love and family permeate the narrative, providing readers of all ages with a deep understanding of the relationship Teddy had with his previous owner and the one he is building with his new family. Ages 6-10. Agent: Rubin Pfeffer, Rubin Pfeffer Content. (Sept.)

Copyright 2016 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

School Library Journal

Gr 3-5--Nikel and his sister Flora are caught in a blizzard. Left in a car by their mother, who went to get help and did not return, they are saved by Teddy; it's a heroic act for a human but all the more impressive for a dog. Teddy was once rescued himself, taken from a shelter by a poet named Sylvan, who surrounded him with words and read him Shakespeare, James Joyce, and C.S. Lewis, as well as his favorite book, Donald Hall's Ox-Cart Man. Though Teddy comprehends words, only poets and children can understand the canine. Nikel, Flora, and Teddy spend several days together at the dog's cabin while the blizzard rages on, and Teddy tells the children about his life with Sylvan and how Sylvan recently passed away. Similar in length to a beginning reader, the novel has sophisticated vocabulary and sensitive subject matter that make it better suited for mature young readers; it would also work as a classroom or one-on-one read aloud. MacLachlan writes with a quiet cadence readers will savor, as the book alternates between the present and Teddy's life with Sylvan, with italics alerting readers to the shift in time. VERDICT Though this contemplative fantasy explores grief, it is also about overcoming loss and is resolved in a way that will comfort sensitive readers. A strong purchase for larger fiction collections.--Juliet Morefield, Multnomah County Library, OR

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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Patricia MacLachlan

Patricia MacLachlan (1938-2022) was the award-winning author of many novels for children, including the Newbery Medal and Scott O'Dell Award-winning Sarah, Plain and Tall, which was adapted into a Hallmark television movie starring Glenn Close and Christopher Walken. She co-wrote the teleplay for the film as well as for two sequels, Skylark and Sarah, Plain and Tall: Winter's End, based on her novels.

Honored with a Christopher Award and a National Humanities Medal among many others, MacLachlan was also the author of Baby, Waiting for the Magic, The Truth of Me, and the picture books Someone Like Me (illustrated by Chris Sheban), and The Iridescence of Birds: A Book About Henri Matisse (illustrated by Hadley Hooper).

Chris Sheban has been awarded three gold and three silver medals from the Society of Illustrators. Some of the books he has illustrated are I Met a Dinosaur by Jan Wahl, Catching the Moon by Myla Goldberg, and What To Do With a Box by Jane Yolen. Someone Like Me is his first book with Roaring Brook Press.

Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780062292629
Lexile Measure
640
Guided Reading Level
11
Publisher
Katherine Tegen Books
Publication date
September 20, 2016
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV047000 - Juvenile Fiction | Books & Libraries
JUV002070 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | Dogs
JUV057000 - Juvenile Fiction | Stories in Verse (see also Poetry)
JUV013070 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Siblings
Library of Congress categories
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