Childrens Literature and Literacy

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==== Book Title ====

If I Were in Charge of the World and Other Worries . . ., published by Macmillan, 1981. 

==== Poem Title ====

Mother Doesn't Want a Dog 

==== Author ====

Judith Virost

==== Link ====

https://poets.org/poem/mother-doesnt-want-dog 

==== Summary ====

This poem is about a kid who wants a dog badly but the mother refuses. She doesn't want one because she feels the dog is a lot to take care of. She makes dogs in general seem like pests and so much trouble. She lists many reasons as to why dogs do not make a good pet and why they are too much to handle. 

==== Analyze Author Craft ====

 The author includes a rhyming scheme within the poem. Every other line rhyme and it consists of three stanzas. It is a Petrarchan sonnet, which is a poem that consists of three stanzas: one with 8 lines, the second with 8 lines, and the last consisting of 4 lines. This poem also starts every stanza with the line "Mother doesn't want a dog". It is also filled with easy words for kids to understand and strong, realistic imagery.

==== Favorite Part ====
 
My favorite part was the third sonnet. All throughout the poem it speaks on how the mother doesn't want the dog, yet the last stanza explains briefly why the child wants the dog. He stated that he thinks of the dog as more than a dog; he thinks of it as a friend or sibling maybe. This makes the poem feel uplifting rather than draining. This last part goes against all of the negative that the mother stated in such a strong way.