A boy, a dog, a girl and a camel. Throw in a kidnapping, bribery, and some (boring-sounding but actually hilarious) asset-backed derivatives and you have the latest novel by Morris Gleitzman.

Gleitzman has a well-deserved reputation for tackling difficult subjects with a light touch, this time he deftly handles the impact of the global financial crisis on a boy whose parents own a bank and the people who lose their money when trouble hits. One unfortunate investor is one of the boy’s ex-nannies and when she hatches a half-baked plan to get her money back, it sets off a chain of events that lead our hero on some dangerous, amusing and ultimately rewarding escapades.

For readers aged nine and up.