A Boy's Best Friend

Clinton lives with his grandparents on a Caribbean island, where he helps Granny with her cows and helps his Uncle on the fishing boat on Saturdays. Clinton isn’t very interested in school and “tunes out” most of the school day until he can get home and see his best friend in all the world, his dog Rufus.

Yet when Clinton’s mum in England sends for him, he has to move to cold, grey London and leave Rufus, Granny and Uncle behind. His new school is all right, but he still zones out for most of the time until one day, on a school trip, disaster strikes: his school bus is involved in a collision and Clinton has to leap into action to help a farmer whose cows are in danger of wandering onto a busy road.

Despite Clinton trying to explain to the adults afterwards, no-one really understands what happened until Clinton’s school receives a letter from the farmer Clinton helped. When his new family take him to visit the farm, everyone loves it – even his high-flying lawyer stepdad. And David, the farmer, has a wonderful gift for Clinton…

One of a series of standalone stories about children growing up in the countryside by Nicola Davies and illustrated in pencil by Cathy Fisher, A Boy’s Best Friend is a fantastic, short read about an outdoorsy boy who loves animals but finds school difficult. Many children will relate to Clinton’s “zoning out” at school, and realise that non-academic skills are just as valuable.