Miyuki:Poetry “DOGKU”

I chose the book named “DOGKU” by Andrew Clements and illustrated by Tim Bowers.

DOGKU’s is about a dog Mooch who showed up to one family’s house hungry and dirty, but the children of the home wash, feed, play, and take care of him, and then Mooch explores the home. Mooch causes some trouble and he noticed that the family had a meeting, and he was worrying about what would happen, but lastly, the children’s father got his bed and his toys, so Mooch understood that he finally got his house!

This book’s Genre is Animal Stories and Poetry and Rhymes. The themes of the book include the daily life of a family and how to take care of dogs. The author, Clements uses haiku all through the story following 5 7 5 syllable structure, with all parts made from three sentences. He really loves haiku, so he applied this in his picture book because it was easy and simple to read for all children. On the last page, Clements wrote about why haikus are fun and the benefits of this poetry style, so audiences will learn more about haiku after reading “DOGKU”. I chose this book because I loved creating haikus when I was 10 years old, and because haiku books are easy and not complicated. I also loved creating haikus and how to include seasonal words or key words to make the poem about.

I noticed that this book wanted to tell about a family’s experience adopting a dog. The story is told from the view of the dog and expresses the dog’s feeling. For example, in the picture book, Mooch thought that the family might let him in, and spending time with the children makes him feel warmer than a sunrise, and during a family meeting, he thought he might go to the “pound”. Through these events Mooch shows sadness, happiness, uncertain, and joy, and this is a way for students to discuss different emotions they have or see. We should know dogs have emotion and are not well when they cannot find a house or family, and this will lead to discussions about how to reduce homeless dogs and not to give up taking care or throwing away dogs. It is important to take care and be responsible with animals such as dogs and cats.  This book will teach students respect for others because people should respect animals such as dogs. In addition, the book emphasizes self-love and knowledge because this book shows adopting dogs (animals) means most children will have same experience with adopting animals.