Boy's Best Friend - Hardcover

Banks, Kate; Sheldrake, Rupert

3.57

51 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374380082 ISBN 13: 9780374380083

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 2015

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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 email 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. This middle-grade boys and dogs story is inspired by Rupert Sheldrake's bestselling adult book, Dogs that Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home.

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About the Author:

Kate Banks is the author of many picture books and novels. The Horn Book called her most recent novel, The Magician's Apprentice, "lyrical, imagistic, and thought-provoking." She lives in the south of France with her family.

Dr. Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and the author of ten previous 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.

From School Library Journal:

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

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