Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew 3 – Pony Problems

Carolyn Keene's Pony Problems is the third Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew mystery, an animal-loving case for 8 year olds about a little pony who just won't stay put.

What happens

His name is Buttons. He's a brown and white Shetland pony from the new petting zoo outside River Heights, and he keeps popping up around town.

He's been found eating the librarian's garden (she chased him down the street in her nightie). He's been seen munching a bush outside the post office. And on Saturday morning he's on Nancy's front lawn, eating Hannah's petunias!

Mr Johnson, the zoo's owner, is baffled. He locks the pen every night. There's only one key, and it hangs on a hook in his kitchen. So how is Buttons getting out?

The Clue Crew are hired on the spot.

Nancy keeps everything in a purple notebook, with one column for clues and one for suspects. The clues are odd little things. Buttons won't touch hay. There's hay outside the fence where it shouldn't be. And one morning there's red paint on his hoof.

The suspects are all people the girls like, which makes it harder. Stacy, who's pony-mad and has an apple tree in her front garden. Mr Johnson himself, whose petting zoo badly needs more visitors. And his daughter Amanda, who won't say a word to anyone.

Amanda's story is the one that stays with you. Her family have just moved and she misses her old friends terribly. Any child who's moved house or school will understand her completely.

There's lots of fun too. Nancy is gloriously clumsy when she's thinking hard (she trips over a rock, then nearly over a toddler). George's two-year-old brother spends a whole afternoon being a duck, then a goat.

The clues are laid out fairly, and the answer comes from the silliest moment in the book. I won't say more! Can your reader put it together first?

Third grade and permission slips are the American touches.

What to read next

If they love an animal mystery, The Zoo Crew sends the three girls off to three days of zoo camp, where they're hoping to earn junior zookeeper badges.