Boy's Best Friend - Softcover

Banks, Kate; Sheldrake, Rupert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1250079721 ISBN 13: 9781250079725

Publisher: Square Fish, 2016

Synopsis

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.

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.

About this title

About the Author

Kate Banks is the author of many picture books and novels. The Horn Book called her 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

About this edition

• Publisher: Square Fish
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1250079721
• ISBN 13: 9781250079725
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224