Boys Against Girls

Boys Against Girls is the third installment in the Boy/Girl Battle series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.

Plot
The Hatfords spend the day after Halloween without candy. They sit around and think of ideas on how to get even. The boys turn to Wally for an idea, who hopes that the abaguchie will take them away. The boys play a tape recording of howling wolves in front of the Malloy house. They leave Peter sitting on a rock outside. Eddie remembers the tape from class, and realizes it's a recording. Caroline and Beth act scared, while Eddie goes out. The boys leave laughing, then find that Peter has disappeared, leaving only his bunny slippers. They panic and search the place, but come up empty. They tell their mother, who calls the Malloys. Eddie had went outside to find Peter all alone. She had taken him inside for a root bear float. Eddie picks up the phone and admits that Peter is at their house.

The next day, in return for the Hatford's kindness, Mrs. Malloy bakes a chocolate chiffon cake for the Hatfords. The girls give it to the boys, who thinks it's a trick. They destroy the cake, thinking there was dog doo or something disgusting in the cake. They find out it's really just a cake, and eat the entire thing. Then they buy a store cake to replace it. Mrs. Hatford recognizes the cake from the store, and goes on about Mrs. Malloy being dishonest.

The Malloy girls go help Eddie practice for baseball. Eddie tries to catch a ball and sprains her thumb. The Hatfords see Eddie in pain, and Caroline lies that Eddie was bit by a creature hiding in a bush.

At school, Wally tells Caroline about the abaguchie, and she doesn't let him leave until he tells her more. He makes up a tall tale about the bones of an abaguchie in the Oldaker's bookstore. She doesn't believe him at first, but goes home and finds out from her father Coach Malloy that the ababurning. Later, the girls take the trap and toss it into the river. The next morning, the Hatfords see it bobbing in the water.

The next morning they saw that the newspapers found out that the fur at Oldaker's was man-made. The sisters are disappointed that they couldn't keep the rumor going.

For Thanksgiving, the Hatford and Malloy family eat together. The kids are quite unhappy about this, but Wally is smiling mysteriously. When they start passing food around, Wally puts a green worm on the plate and lpasses it to Caroline. In the end, the worm gets eaten by Coach Malloy. Meanwhile, their roasted chicken outisde is stolen by abaguchie.

Chapters

 * 1) Abaguchie
 * 2) Call of the Wild
 * 3) Bunny Slippers
 * 4) Kidnapped
 * 5) Search Party
 * 6) Chiffon
 * 7) Confession
 * 8) Eddie's Thumb
 * 9) Tall Tale
 * 10) The Secret Staircase
 * 11) Waiting for Caroline
 * 12) Trapped
 * 13) Alarm
 * 14) Escape
 * 15) Abaguchie?
 * 16) Playing Ball
 * 17) Letters
 * 18) Paw Prints
 * 19) Two Yellow Eyes
 * 20) A Little Talk with Wally
 * 21) Bait
 * 22) The Capture
 * 23) Gone
 * 24) Cruising down the River
 * 25) Dinner Guest

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