Storm-Dragon by Dave Freer

Skut, cutting school on a perilous planet, finds himself rescuing a small storm-dragon.

Thus adding caring for it to enliven his life along with bullies at school, spiteful bureaucrats, befriending a boy who's just arrived from a Displaced Person camp, vegetable beds, questions of fishing, the ferocious wildlife, the deadly tides (it has three moons), a ceasefire that most people don't really believe in, and more.