The Odds Get Even by Natale Ghent

fernfolio — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:35:25 +0000

Boney, Itchy and Squeak are neighbours and best friends. All three boys are odd; Boney, whose parents disappeared when he was a baby, lives with his neurotic aunt and her long-suffering husband, Squeak, whose mother ran off to work in a travelling cabaret, views the world from behind World War I goggles fitted with lens made to someone else’s prescription, and Itchy contends with a father who’s an Elvis impersonator and a mother intent upon redecorating their house. Together, they built the club house in the tree behind their houses, have entered the yearly Invention Convention at their school, and weathered the attentions of the class bully, Larry Harry, and his henchmen, Jones and Jones.
Larry, aka the Fart King and Prisoner 95, seems determined to make the Odds’ lives unbearable. He and the Jones twins regularly throw eggs at the boys’ clubhouse, and ambush them on the street. Boney, Itchy and Squeaky are regularly assaulted by the bullies, especially during phys. ed. classes, which frequently end in one or other of the boys making a visit to the school nurse.
Since Larry has sabotaged their entries into the Invention Convention, the Odds have never won, even though Squeak is a scientific and engineering genius, but this year the friends are determined to win the grand prize of $500, and solve the bullying problem once and for all. Squeak thinks he’s figured out how to build an Apparator, a device that can detect the presence of ghosts, and, since the ruins of the Old Mill are rumoured to be haunted, the Odds decide that it would be the perfect place to test Squeak’s invention, and plan Larry Harry’s comeuppance.
Little to the friends know that their plans will put them afoul of the Old Mill’s current occupant, or that a chance encounter with a dog will land them in hot water and about four thousand sequins!
Written by Natale Ghent, author of No Small Thing, The Odds Get Even is an action-packed adventure about three boys, their bullies and….. a ghost?
FernFolio Editor

Silver Birch Reading Program

fernfolio — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 23:20:25 +0000

Intended for students in Grades 4 to 6, the Silver Birch Reading Program has two categories, a fiction category and a non-fiction category. There are ten books nominated in each.
Just as soon as copies of the Silver Birch nominated titles arrive in the library, students will be able to start their reading, and, very soon after, their discussions about the books! Readers are invited to lunch-hour meetings during which they can talk about their reading and defend their favourite book. Sometimes these conversations lead to research, such as our investigation, a few years ago, of medical practices during the middle ages. Sometimes they provoke moments of hilarity, like last year, when one reader entertained the group with her skit of a puppy, who thinks she’s a kitten, trying to climb a tree (if you’ve read Prairie Dogs, you’ll remember the scene!).
Students who have read a minimum of five books in either category are eligible to vote for the best book in that category. Some student vote for their favourite fiction title, some vote for their favourite non-fiction title, some vote for both, and some simply enjoy one or a few good books. Every year there are a small number of students who read all of the titles nominated in each category!
Voting takes place in the Spring, and we send our results off to the Ontario Library Association to be added to those from students all over Canada. Every one of us eagerly awaits the results and either celebrates the winning book or concludes, wryly, that the rest of the country has no appreciation for good literature.
Regardless of the outcome, Silver Birch is always exciting!
FernFolio Editor

FernFolio » Silver Birch Program

The Odds Get Even by Natale Ghent

Silver Birch Reading Program