When Friendship Followed Me Home by Paul Griffin

Middle School 

12-year-old Ben Coffin has never felt like her fit in. A former foster kid, he keeps his head down at school to avoid bullies and spends his afternoons reading sci-fi books at the library. But that all changes when he finds a scruffy abandoned dog named Flip and befriends the librarian’s daughter, Halley.

For the first time, Ben starts to feel like he belongs in his own life. Then, everything changes, and Ben is more alone than ever. But with a little help from Halley’s magician father, Ben discovers his place in the world and learns to see his own magic through others’ eyes.

The part I liked most about this book was how Flip the dog trained to become a therapy dog so he could do a program called ‘Reading with Rufus’. It’s a program where kids who have a hard time reading, read to dogs. I first heard of a program like this at my local library. I actually read to a dog, which is kind of weird since I was 19 or 20 at the time. The dog was a golden retriever and was so mellow it was almost unnatural. I’m hoping to train my autism service dog, Dude, to be a therapy dog because I want to take him into hospitals and old folks homes to cheer people up. I already take Dude out to stores and people are always happy to see his big happy face. It always makes me happy to see other people happy.

If you’ve read book like ‘Because of Winn-Dixie’, ‘Bridge to Terabithia’ and ‘One for the Murphys’ you’ll love this book. ‘When Friendship Followed Me Home’ has the same heartwarming, heartbreaking, and funny combination as these classic stories.