1. Maggie Callahan
Reading- Miss Roche
Period 5
May 11, 2012

2. 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.h
tml

3. 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.

4. 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 Characters
Rivers 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

5. PLOT
 Introduction
 Meet Skip and Willie
 Learn about setting- a small town in Mississippi
 Learn about the strong relationship between Willie and Skip
Rising Action
 meet Rivers
 Willie sleeps overnight in a graveyard with Skip
 Rivers saves Willie from a poisonous spider
Climax
 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 army
Conclusion
 When Willie comes back from overseas, Skip dies
 Willie and Rivers get married

6. 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

7. ACTORS
 Skip played by Tucker Callahan
 Rivers Applewhite played by Peyton List

8. ACTORS CONT.
 Willie played by Nolan Gloud

9. SONG
 What Hurts The Most Me & My Gang 3:34
Rascal 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

10. 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

11. 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.