Boy's Best Friend

by Kate Banks, Rupert Sheldrake

Overview

Award-winning author Kate Banks teams up with world-famous Ruper Sheldrake in Boy's Best Friend to create a book that's sure to be a hit with dog lovers and little scientists everywhere.

Eleven-year-old George has a dog, Bart, who seems to know everything about him—from when he is feeling sad to when he will arrive home from school. George's new neighbor and classmate, Lester, also has a dog, Bill Gates, and Lester thinks he is the smartest animal in the world. When their teacher assigns a school science project about animal behavior, George and Lester decide to conduct an experiment based on the world-famous Rupert Sheldrake's experiments about dogs. George even has an e-mail exchange with Dr. Sheldrake to help him with the project—and he and Lester soon find out that, through a few simple experiments, kids can make scientific discoveries, too.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250079725
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	12/27/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Kate Banks (1960 - 2024) was the author of many picture books and novels. The Horn Book called her novel, The Magician's Apprentice, "lyrical, imagistic, and thought-provoking." She lived in the South of France with her family.

Dr. Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and the author of a dozen books. He studied at Harvard and Cambridge Universities and works on projects funded by many institutions around the world. He lives in London with his wife.

Editorial Reviews

04/01/2015
Gr 4–7—Lester, 11, has just moved to Cape Cod from Denver where he meets George. Both boys are accompanied by their beloved dogs, Bill Gates and Bart, respectively. For an assignment, the boys conduct experiments to establish if they and their dogs exhibit telepathic links. The narrative alternates between Lester and George's points of view and is supplemented by email communications between George and the real-life biologist Rupert Sheldrake. The emails often feel like information dumps and, while certainly interesting, the correspondence isn't always believable. The friendship that blossoms between Lester and George is refreshingly natural and organic. However, too many "big life questions" weigh down the narrative. For example, the way in which one of the characters experiences and processes loss and grief feels rushed and artificial. Readers never get to know the dogs and as "boys' best friends," the relationships feel hollow. The real value here is in the book's demonstration of the scientific method. Not only are key definitions worked into the narrative, but the two boys examine bias, honesty, and statistical significance. The potential to use this fictional title to explore scientific theory is strong and quite interesting. Classrooms could take this even further by using the boys' research logs (provided in the back of the book) to analyze the data and create their own experiments. VERDICT While not a first purchase for most libraries, it is potentially a valuable tool in classroom settings and for libraries looking to add to their Common Core collections.—Taylor Worley, Springfield Public Library, OR

School Library Journal

2015-04-15
George's beloved dog, Bart, seems to always know when the Cape Cod grade schooler will be returning home and waits eagerly for his arrival. Encouraged by Banks' co-author, biologist Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, author of the real-life book Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home (1999), with whom he exchanges many emails, George decides to begin a scientific investigation of his dog's skill for a school project. Lester, a new classmate, has just moved into the neighborhood and is really missing his former home in Denver. He's an upbeat kid who's determined, most of the time, to try to make the best of his new situation. Lester's dog also seems able to anticipate when he'll come home. Coincidentally, George's best friend, Kyra, recently moved away. While the setup is both convenient and obvious—two needy boys with similar interests who could do much to help each other out but can't seem to find their way there—it doesn't diminish the satisfaction of watching that process happen. George and Lester manage their investigation into human-animal telepathy in a way that is both valuable and inspiring. Lester, who spends a lot of his time repeating the mantra "Moving is fun. Change can be positive," is particularly appealing, but nearly all of the attractively genial characters are convincingly developed. Well-rounded characters and an interesting concept make this a solid read. (Fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews