"Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds."

David A. Adler write a cute story about a girl who has a photographic memory in the book "Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds." Pictures in this book are illustrated by Susanna Natti. The illustrations are important in this book because the reader is directed to look at details in some of the pictures. I have the 1980 published version paperback and it was originally bought for $3.99. The new version has a different front cover but it still can be purchased for the same price of $3.99 from Amazon.com.

Characters

Cam (Jennifer) Jansen
Eric Shelton
Howie the baby
Eric's mother
Police Officer
Young couple with baby
Man with mustache
Two elderly ladies
Owner of Jewelry store

Plot

Cam Jansen and Eric were babysitting Howie while they were waiting for Eric's mother to finish shopping. While they were waiting they witnessed a burglary take place in the mall's jewelry store. They saw a man running out of the store heading in one direction and then a young couple with a baby come out of the same jewelry store. Cam took a mental picture in her head by saying "click" of all three of them. Then two elderly women came out of the store shaking they were frightened. The tried giving a description of the thief to the police. They said he had black hair and a bar mustache wearing a green tie. Cam remembered this man using her photographic memory. The police caught the man but it turned out he wasn't the thief, or at least they thought.

While Cam and Eric were talking to the elderly women, they were trying to solve the mystery. If it wasn't the man running out of the store, than what other man could it be? The only other man was the father of the baby with the woman. Hmmm, maybe they were all in it together? Cam and Eric follow the man with the green tie when they realize he is heading towards a different direction than earlier. They find this extremely suspicious. It turns out that all three people (man in green tie, and the young couple) were all in it together. They were all the thieves! Erik runs for help and Cam ends up getting by the man in the green tie. She still has Howie the baby with her, what is she going to do? In the end, the policeman come and save Cam and Howie and they arrest all three of the thieves.

In My Opinion

Although I do find this book cute, I am not so sure it teaches young children a good lesson by following the complete strangers. Everything turns out alright with Cam and Howie in the end but it was an extremely dangerous situation she put herself in, especially holding a baby. I know this book is make believe but this part of the story doesn't sit well with me. After I read this book to my students, we have a class discussion about why this was not a good idea to chase the complete strangers and we talk about what they should have done, like call the police or call mall security.

Other Cam Jansen books include:

Mystery of the U.F.O.
Mystery of the Dinosaur Bones
Mystery of the Television Dog
Mystery of the Gold Coins
Mystery of the Babe Ruth Baseball
Mystery of the Circus Clown
Mystery of the Monster Movie
Mystery of the Carnival Prize
Mystery of the Monkey House
Mystery of the Stolen Corn Popper
Mystery of Flight 54
Mystery of the Haunted House
Chocolate Fudge Mystery
Triceratops Pops Mystery

I haven't had a chance to read any of the others yet but when I do, will keep the reviews coming.