A Boy's Best Friend
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For the song "A Boy's Best Friend" by The White Stripes, see De Stijl
A Boy's Best Friend is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov, published in 1974. It has been collected in The Complete Robot and first appeared in Boys' Life.
[edit] Synopsis
This story is set far in the future when habitation of the Moon has already taken place. Jimmy Anderson is a Moon-born ten-year old, and he owns a robotic dog named Robutt, whom he comes to love. However, his parents want him to have a real dog, a Scottish Terrier. Since Moon-borns cannot visit Earth, his parents bring the dog to the Moon. But since the relationship between Jimmy and Robutt is so close, Jimmy decides not to have the 'living' dog and keep the 'fake' dog Robutt instead.
[edit] Similarities to other stories
Quoting Asimov himself, "you may find in it (the story) a distant echo of Robbie". In that story, written 35 years ago, it also involves a relationship between a child and a robot.
| The Complete Robot |
| A Boy's Best Friend | Sally | Someday | Point of View | Think! | True Love | Robot AL-76 Goes Astray | Victory Unintentional | Stranger In Paradise | Light Verse | Segregationist | Robbie | Let's Get Together | Mirror Image | The Tercentenary Incident | First Law | Runaround | Reason | Catch that Rabbit | Liar! | Satisfaction Guaranteed | Lenny | Galley Slave | Little Lost Robot | Risk | Escape! | Evidence | The Evitable Conflict | Feminine Intuition | —That Thou art Mindful of Him | The Bicentennial Man |
