Earth Friends 02 – River Rescue

Holly Webb's River Rescue is a warm friendship story for 7 year olds about a shy girl, a very silly dog and a river full of rubbish.

What happens

Izzy has just finished a school project with Poppy, Maya and Emily, and it was the best fortnight she's had in ages. Now it's over. So she goes back to her old table and hides behind a book in the playground. She's sure the others were only putting up with her.

They weren't, of course. Poppy marches over to find out why Izzy's avoiding them (and works out that Izzy must be a Virgo while she's at it). Before long Izzy's been invited home for tea.

That's where she meets Billy. He's an enormous English Bull Terrier who's scared of the vet, hates dustbin lorries and once knocked a salesman into a hedge chasing next door's cat. He's also, according to Poppy, "totally stupid".

On a walk by the river, Billy spots a water rat and in he goes. The river is so full of junk (shopping trolleys, a mattress, half a boat) that his paw gets caught in a dumped bicycle. The girls have to haul him out together, and they end up soaked and covered in mud.

Holly Webb is so good at the quiet feelings. Izzy misses her mum, who lives in Australia now with a new baby. She's been picked on by Ali, the class meanie, for a long time. You really feel how much it means to her just to say "we" about a group of friends.

There's plenty of fun alongside it. Poppy's alternative remedies, Billy's daftness and a dad who can't tell lipgloss from lip polish. And that filthy river gives the girls their next big idea.

If your reader has ever worried that their friends don't really want them around, they'll see themselves in Izzy. And they'll cheer when she finds out she's wrong.

What to read next

If they'd like to see how the four friends first got together, Fair Fashion tells Maya's side of their story.