Written as a series of free-verse poetic journal entries, this book features an encouraging teacher, a child’s blossoming love of poetry, and the loss of a dear pet. At first, Jack is reluctant to write poetry, “because boys don’t write poetry. Girls do.” As his teacher introduces works by various poets, including William Carlos Williams, Robert Frost, and Walter Dean Myers, Jack wonders about what the poems mean. Why does so much depend upon a red wheelbarrow and some white chickens? If the guy is in the snowy wood, why doesn’t he just keep going if he has so many miles to go before he sleeps? (The seven poems Jack mentions in his journals are printed in the back of the book.) But as Jack emulates the styles of these famous poets, he soon finds his own voice and a growing appreciation of poetry.