One Dog and His Boy by Eva Ibbotson

What a lovely, lovely story.

One Dog and His Boy is perfect as a read-aloud or for good 8+ readers.

This is the story of Hal - an only child to rich parents. A child who has everything...except a dog of his own. For his 10th birthday, Hal's father arranges to hire a dog for the weekend to "get it out of his system."
Of course Hal and Fleck fall in love and refuse to be parted.

What follows is a road trip complete with runaway children, dogs and bumbling private detectives. A journey that gives everyone (especially Hal's parents) time to think about what's really important to them.

Delightful and heart-warming. And very sad to think that this will be Ibbotson's last novel.