Maggie CallahanReading- Miss RochePeriod 5May 11, 2012

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Willie Morris was born on November 29,1934, in Jackson Mississippi. When he was six months old, Willie moved to Yazoo City. He graduated high school in 1952 and was the valedictorian in his class. As a senior in high school, he wrote for the local newspaper and became interested in writing. Later, he attended Oxford University. Willie Morris has written many books, but enjoys writing about his childhood the best.

http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/morris_willie/index.html

SUMMARY

My Dog Skip is a memoir about the author- Willie Morris’s childhood memories with his amazing dog, Skip. Supported with a cast of many childhood friends, the author shows his true love for his dog with many loyal, sad, and meaningful memories. The story takes place in Yazoo City, a town on the Mississippi Delta. The author will take you back to a simpler time era without modern-day technology. Throughout his many adventures, another story unfolds with a girl named Rivers Applewhite, who would one day become his wife. She becomes very close with Skip also and is in many of Willie’s memories. All in all, this is a story about a boy and the mind-blowing adventures that Willie had with his best friend- his dog, Skip.

CHARACTERS

Main Characters Willie= starts as a nine year old boy, Skip’s owner, Rivers’s friend, daring and adventurous, athletic and enjoys playing baseball and football, went on journeys with Skip

Skip= extremely intelligent, a fox-terrier dog, is always at Willie’s side, can play football, Willie’s best friend, often plays with Rivers

Supporting CharactersRivers Applewhite= often has china-berry fights with Willie and Skip, pretty, loves animals and nature, saved Willie’s life from a poisonous spider, same age as Willie

PLOT

Introduction Meet Skip and Willie Learn about setting- a small town in Mississippi Learn about the strong relationship between Willie and SkipRising Action meet Rivers Willie sleeps overnight in a graveyard with Skip Rivers saves Willie from a poisonous spiderClimax Willie gets embarrassed and takes his anger out on Skip, Skip runs away

Falling Action River gets mad at Willie for making Skip run away, but eventually forgives him

Skip comes back Willie enlists in the armyConclusion When Willie comes back from overseas, Skip dies Willie and Rivers get married

VOCABULARY

Phalanx-n. a compact or closely massed body of persons, animals, or things. “ The football coach used his usual phalanx of blockers.” Page 10

Pungent- adj. sharply affecting the organs of taste or smell, as if by a penetrating power; biting; acrid. “Skip would always stop and take in the pungent smells of the dump.” Page 32

Debenture- n. a certificate of drawback issued at a custom house. “We were all saddened by the debenture.” Page 7

Apex- n. the tip, point, or vertex; summit. “ She hit the apex of her lengthy high C.” Page 56

Torrents- n. A violent downpour of rain. “ We heard hailstones on the roof, hitting in heavy torrents.” Page 96

ACTORS

Skip played by Tucker Callahan

Rivers Applewhite played by Peyton List

ACTORS CONT.

Willie played by Nolan Gloud

SONG

What Hurts The Most Me & My Gang 3:34Rascal Flatts Country

I picked this song to represent when Skip dies because Willie and Skip where very close and shared many good times together

Lyrics I can take the rain on the roof of this empty house. That don't bother me I can take a few tears now and then and just let them out I'm not afraid to cry every once in a while, Even though going on with you gone still upsets me. There are days every now and again I pretend I'm ok. But that's not what gets me

SONG CONT.

What hurts the most Was being so close And having so much to say And watching you walk away And never knowing What could have been And not seeing that loving you Is what I was tryin' to do It's hard to deal with the pain of losing you everywhere I go But I'm doin' It It's hard to force that smile when I see our old friends and I'm alone Still Harder Getting up, getting dressed, livin' with this regret But I know if I could do it over I would trade give away all the words that I saved in my heart That I left unspoken What hurts the most Is being so close And having so much to say And watching you walk away And never knowing What could have been And not seeing that loving you Is what I was trying to do What hurts the most Is being so close And having so much to say And watching you walk away And never knowing What could have been And not seeing that loving you Is what I was trying to do Not seeing that loving you That's what I was trying to do

RATING

I would give this book one star out of five. I would give it this rating because it never grasped my attention and had many long and confusing words. It was also not what I expected because I saw the movie and the part shown in the movie was only one chapter of the book. I did give it one star because I thought the author put a lot of heart into writing it and reflecting on his childhood.