The World According to Dog: Poems and Teen Voices

by Joyce Sidman, Doug Mindell (Illustrator)

Funny, comforting, surprising, the words in this book explore our lives with dogs: dogs who befriend us; dogs who annoy, perplex, and accept us. Teens speak for themselves in honest and forthright essays while Joyce Sidman’s insightful poems further express the bond between dog and teen: how days of crowded hallways, pointless assignments, and blinding crushes are brought to balance by our dogs. For as Doug Mindell’s winning photographs confirm, at the end of the day, waiting at home, there is always Dog—full of hope and companionship.

Genres: Poetry, Dogs, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Animals

80 pages, Hardcover

First published March 24, 2003

About the author

The Newbery Honor winner Joyce Sidman is today's foremost nature poet for children. Accolades for her books include two Caldecott Honors, a Lee Bennet Hopkins Award, winner of the Claudia Lews Award, and many stars and best of lists. For her award-winning body of work, she won the Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. She lives in Wayzata, Minnesota. Visit www.joycesidman.com

Reviews

[Dawn Draper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book. The love that is shown from these teenagers regarding their dogs is just heart warming and genuine. The writing is just so heartfelt and real it puts a smile on my face. Since I have 3 dogs of my own when I read these poems my own dogs could fit into so many of these.
Students would really benefit from reading through these poems and could use them as models for their own writing. They are pieces that they could easily relate to and replicate with a topic that was all their own, such as: where the dog sleeps, wet noses, being a child's best friend, chasing animals, dogs ears, waking them up in bed and the deep love a child has for their dog. Just fantastic!

[Becky Loader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sidman has collected beautiful dog photos and written poems to go along with them. In addition she has essays written by teens about their experiences with having dogs in their lives. Very well done.

[Karen Guerin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed, especially those poems written by the middle-school age authors.

[Nav · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually really enjoyed the poems in this, but I felt like the stories about dogs that were included probably deserved their own book instead of their somewhat awkward inclusion in this.

[Julie Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dog lovers, particularly middle-school-aged dog lovers, would enjoy this collection of poems & narratives written by teens. From a teacher's perspective, this has excellent examples of personal narratives at the grade 7/8 level, several of them effectively capturing the personality of their dog (without just "telling").

Pg. 11--a great poem for a point of view/perspective lesson (speaker compares the world according to dog and world according to person, suggesting how cool it would be to switch places for a day; she could find "answers to questions I've never asked."
"Dog & Squirrel: Steps in a Flirtation" is particularly good--2 voices (dog & squirrel, juxtaposed).
"Separation" is particularly excellent as far as poetry goes.

Check it out!

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I wouldn't call myself a dog person by any stretch of the imagination but I do adore our dog. She inspired me to pick up this book off the library shelf and I found several poems in it that I ended up sending to a dear friend of mine who really is a dog person!

[June Pecchia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The poems by Sidman are insightful and well-written, as always. Some of the teens' contributions were good, some not so.

The big disappointment was the photography...I like quirky (which this is) but quirky that's done artfully and professionally (which this often is not.)

[The Reading Countess · Rating 2 out of 5]

I asked our literacy coach to order this one for our curriculum cafe', and after having read it, I am disappointed. The photos, sadly, were more interesting than the text.

[Mas5thgrade2011 · Rating 5 out of 5]

i girls dog died by a car

Poor doggy. Hit by a car last lick to the owner and then died.

[Heather Ledet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing poetry about pictures, different styles of poetry, poetry about literature, student poetry.

[Ms. B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really my book, I guess you have to be a dog person to get it.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Free verse poems; I especially like the one called "Shedding" as I could relate so well to it. Includes black and white photos of a variety of dogs. The teen essays about their own dogs are touching.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories, poems, and photos by a variety of people (mostly teens) who tell us about the dogs in their lives. Some are heart warming, some are funny, and others are sad.

[Laura (booksnob) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely book for people of all ages who love dogs and poetry.

[Jessica Dudenhofer Beery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful simple poetry...tugs at the heart. My favorite was “Shedding.” And the stories from teens tucked between the poetry was just as beautiful. Glad I picked this one up. 💕

[Savannah privett · Rating 5 out of 5]

it hard to say

[Jayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for dog and poetry lovers!