Calendar Mysteries – July Jitters

July Jitters is Ron Roy's Fourth of July adventure for 5 year olds, with a pet costume contest and two pets who bolt just before it starts.

What happens

The mayor of Green Lawn is holding a pet parade. Every pet has to be dressed as someone from 1776, and the winning pet's owner gets a whole day as mayor. That means the mayor's shiny black car, lunch at his favourite restaurant and being on TV!

Bradley and his twin Brian have a brilliant plan. Their pony Polly will go as Thomas Jefferson, in a white wig and a three-cornered hat with tinfoil buckles taped to her front hooves. Pal the basset hound will wear the Declaration of Independence like a cape. Nate and Lucy, their two best buddies, are helping too.

Polly is NOT keen on the wig (she snorts and stamps the first time they try it). Then, one minute before the contest, Polly and Pal take off running. Now the four friends have a whole town to search on a baking hot day.

This is the seventh Calendar Mysteries book, and it's a proper hunt. They follow hoofprints behind the hotel. Bradley sniffs the air for horse manure. They visit the riding stables, where the boss is a tough older lady called Bucky. They hand out "lost" posters to just about everyone on Main Street.

It's full of the little running jokes children love. The four of them argue about which bit of the mayor they'll each get to be if they win (Brian bags the stomach). Brian is always thirsty. And he's always sure he's right.

There's a sad moment too, when Bradley sits on the library steps with tears in his eyes, worried Polly and Pal have gone for good. If your reader has ever lost a pet, even for an afternoon, they'll know that feeling.

It's a very American book. Their teacher dresses up as King George the Third to explain why the Fourth of July is a holiday, and King George is the one taxing everybody far too much! A British reader might find that quite funny. It's an easy bit of history to chat about, too.

What to read next

For another Green Lawn Fourth of July, this time from the big kids' side, try The Talking T. Rex. Josh, Dink and Ruth Rose meet an enormous moving dinosaur on the high school playing field before the fireworks, and the twins and Nate come along to gawp at it.