Nine-year-old Zoe Meadows is the new kid in Ivy Creek. For homeschooled Zoe, every day starts the same: breakfast, then to the living room where Miss Ellis awaits.

Genre: Children’s illustrated book
Ages: 4 – 6 years
Publisher: Noctilune Publishing Ltd
Instagram: @noctilunepublishing

Only today, Zoe can’t focus—not when she notices neighbourhood children playing outside, children she’s yet to meet. Watching all this unfold, Zoe’s parents decide it’s time for a companion—the furry kind, to be precise.

Everything changes when Zoe meets Hope at the dog shelter for the first time. The two girls form an inseparable bond over the following months and find in each other the one thing they both craved for a long, long time: a forever friend.

My Review

This is such a lovely story and I can’t resist a tale with a tail – a waggy tail preferably. Give me a dog and a happy ending and I’m ecstatic.

I’m not sure why Zoe is home schooled but it’s going to take a while for her to make new friends. At the moment she is at home all day with her tutor. That is until her parents decide it’s time for a companion. And there’s nothing like a playful pup to break the ice with new people.

But Zoe is a bit like me in this sense. When they go to the dog shelter to find a rescue pooch, she is immediately drawn to the underdog. The senior dog who is very quiet and shy. Just like me thinks Zoe.

But when they get her home – they have called her Hope – she is very quiet and won’t come to Zoe. I’ll go to her then. So every day Zoe sits with her books, and reads to Hope. But Hope still won’t come our of her shell.

Until Zoe reads about two best friends, ‘Just like you and me,’ she says. And so an unbreakable bond is formed and the two pals go everywhere together.

This is a story about loneliness, love and friendship. It’s perfect for young children who may need a forever friend, and shows that friendship can be found in unexpected places.

Meet the Author

Amie White doesn’t just think magic exists—she knows it does. And believes the most powerful kind always comes from within. When she’s not writing, Amie often finds herself enjoying a cosy café and people-watching on the busy streets of London. She loves crafting brave heroines through her writing, teaching readers that sometimes the greatest adventures begin with inner knowing.