Sharon Creech

Sharon Creech's latest novel, Love That Dog (HarperCollins/Joanna Cotler Bks., 2001), tells the story of a young schoolboy named Jack, who gradually comes to love poetry, especially a poem called "Love That Boy" by Walter Dean Myers. We spoke with Creech, a Newbery Medalist, while she was on vacation in New York State.

Why did you decide to use Walter Dean Myers, an actual, living children's book writer, as a fictional character in Love That Dog ?

Do you know K. T. Horning [a librarian at the Cooperative Children's Book Center]? …She has been an incredible source of inspiration for me in many different ways…. She sent me a card about three or four years ago…. On the card was the first stanza of this poem, "Love That Boy" by Walter Dean Myers.... You know how when you read certain things, some things will just grab you? This [one] did. There was just so much energy in that poem, the rhythm of the poem, and the love in the poem. So I cut out the poem and tacked it on my bulletin board, where it still is today. It's been there about four years, and I must glance at it probably a dozen times a day, because it's right there at eye level.

One day, when I looked at it about a year ago, I was thinking about that boy in the poem who is so loved. And I started to wonder, what would that boy love? Maybe he would love a pet, maybe a dog, maybe some teacher, and almost instantly… I saw this boy in my mind who was Jack.... I could see him sitting at his desk. And perhaps because it was a poem that inspired me to think of this, I knew he was going to respond to poetry in some way. And the story just came out very fast, very fluid.

When you finished the story, what most surprised you?

I was surprised, first of all, when Walter Dean Myers himself entered the story. As soon as he entered, I thought, "You know, I don't think I can do this. I don't think you can have a living person as a character in a story" [she laughs]—think of the legal implications. So I put the story away for several months. And my editor [Joanna Cotler] kept asking me, "What are you working on? And I said, "Well, I did this story, but there are a few reasons why I think I just can't send it to you." Finally, she convinced me to send it to her… and she instantly loved this story. She said, "Sharon, this is incredible." And I said, "But what about Walter Dean Myers in there?" I tried to get him out. I tried to put a fictional author in, but it left this big hole in the story, because [Walter Dean Myers's] poem is pivotal. It has to be that poem. [Walter Dean Myers] is the poet [Jack] would want to write to. That's the poet he would want to meet.

I also felt that I didn't want to use a fictional writer. I wanted to show how these real, living writers, ...who are writing books today, are affecting kids. So [my editor] said, "Let's just send this to Walter and see what he thinks." And I said, "Good, because if he has any reservations whatsoever, we have no story and I'm putting it away." ...So [Joanna] sent it to Walter—I had only met him once—and he read the book.... I think he was very, very shy about being the hero in this book, because he's—as I've since learned—a very shy and humble man. And yet he could easily see why his presence was needed in that book, why aesthetically it was important. He gave his blessing; he said, "Fine, go ahead." If he hadn't said that, there would be no book.