DOGBOY

In 1346, an ignorant kennel boy is transported to France with his master’s hunting hounds to witness the historical Battle of Crecy. Orphaned as a baby, 12-year-old Brind grew up in estate kennels caring for Sir Edmund’s prized pack of mastiffs. Naïve and uneducated, “Brind didn’t understand humans like he understood dogs,” especially Glaive, the pack leader. Summoned to join the king’s armies assembling to invade France, impoverished Sir Edmund includes Brind and the mastiffs in his meager retinue. After a difficult Channel crossing, Sir Edmund and his mastiffs engage the French army at Crecy, where Brind is separated from everyone. Alone in the French countryside, the devoted Brind is determined to find Glaive and Sir Edmund. When he encounters Aurelie, a feisty ten-year-old French girl exiled from besieged Calais, the two homeless enemies reluctantly join forces. Using wit and courage, the plucky pair escapes treachery, captivity and storm to reach England. Spare prose accentuates the fast-paced action. A realistic peek at chivalry from the perspective of two wily waifs. (Historical fiction. 10+)