Boney, Itchy, and Squeak are best friends, drawn together by their status as misfits and their proximity as neighbours. They also share a tree house, situated in Boney’s backyard, where they meet to eat crackers and peanut butter and plot revenge against their mortal enemy, Larry Harry, the school bully. They also want desperately to win the school’s science competition – a contest Larry has cheated them out of in previous years. When Squeak builds a machine to detect ghosts, the boys think they have the prize in the bag – or at least a way to get back at the bully.

The Odds Get Even is a curiously old-fashioned story. Instead of using MSN or texting, the Odds communicate through a pipe strung between their houses. Instead of playing video games, they ride their bikes, hide out in their tree house, and invent ghost-detecting machines using spare parts. It’s Beverly Cleary meets Scooby-Doo.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Ghent knows how to spin a tale, and she is especially good at bringing to life the many amusing situations in which her characters find themselves. Her nostalgic approach to childhood has plenty to offer, even to young readers who find it hard to imagine a life without electronic entertainment. Who doesn’t want a tree house? What kid, in this regulated world of hockey practices and piano lessons, doesn’t find the idea of creeping out the back window under the noses of adults appealing? And who, kid or adult alike, wouldn’t like to give those bullies their due?