One Dog and His Boy

One Dog and His Boy, Eva Ibbotson, Scholastic

Hal lives in a nice big house with his very rich parents. He has all the latest toys and his mother proudly tells her equally rich friends that he has ‘everything a boy could want’. But she is wrong, because all Hal really wants is a dog. Luckily for Albina, Hal’s mess detesting mother, Easy Pets offers the loan of pedigree dogs for an hour, a day or a weekend for a large fee.

Convinced that Hal will get sick of a dog after a day or two, his parents allow him to choose a dog from Easy Pets, neglecting to tell him of course that the dog is in fact on loan...

I have thoroughly enjoyed everything I have ever read by Ibbotson (special mention to Which Witch). Her books are a pleasure to read, and this one is no exception.