"In a worthy companion piece to Love That Dog (2001), Creech employs observant sensitivity and spare verse to carve an indelible portrait of a boy who discovers the power of self-expression. Once again, Jack works on a poetry journal for Miss Stretchberry, now his fifth-grade teacher. He responds to her instruction with skepticism, all the while absorbing the depth of feeling in the poems she shares, sometimes in spite of himself. Creech is a master of negative space; though we see only Jack’s side of their dialogue, we learn a great deal about the other figures in Jack’s life. In Love That Dog, Jack’s reluctant relationship with poetry mirrored his struggle to let go of a good friend. In this title, we see Jack’s reluctance waning, and with it, the resolute protection of his feelings. Try as he might to hold them off, the lines of Miss Stretchberry’s poems open a space in his heart just big enough to allow affection for a small black kitten, dotted with white, to find its way in."

Ran a few errands today, saw this box, and decided to feed it.