Great Stone Face Booktalk #12

One Dog and his Boy
by Eva Ibbotson

Most children would be thrilled with all the expensive toys Hal’s parents lavished on him for his 11th birthday…Hal could see that. But all he had ever wanted, with every fiber of his being, was a dog; his parents were equally adamant that this would not happen. “Too much mess…too much bother,” they declared, and the matter was settled. When Hal’s father saw how terribly dejected his son was, he decided to rent a dog for the weekend (the details were never spelled out to Hal); the boy would tire of the dog quickly, and that would be the end of it. But that was not the end of it…when Hal found out Fleck had been a rental from Easy Pets, and not his own for keeps, he hatched a desperate plan. He would go to the pet shop and snatch Fleck away, and take him on the train to his grandparents’ home on the coast. However, there were some things he hadn’t counted on…like the fact that the girl
in charge of pet care at the shop had felt sorry for some of the other dogs in her care, and let them loose, as well. When they all showed up at the train station, expectantly watching him with their trusting eyes, what was he to do?
 (Booktalk by Luci Albertson, GSF Committee, Bedford Public Library)