Cam Jansen: The Snowy Day Mystery

David A. Adler's The Snowy Day Mystery is a clever little whodunnit for 8 year olds starring Cam Jansen, the girl with a camera in her head.

What happens

It's snowing. The road outside school is jammed with parents' cars and Mrs Lane the bus driver is NOT happy. So Cam and her best friend Eric play a memory game while they wait.

Cam's real name is Jennifer. She has a photographic memory. She looks at something, blinks, says "Click!" and it's stored in her head like a photo. The colour of every car. Their number plates. Even which hands Patti's mittens are on (the wrong ones).

When they finally get to the computer room, three computers have vanished. There are fresh footprints under one window, out in the snow. But that window is locked from the inside.

So how did the thieves get in and out?

It's a proper puzzle for young detectives. Cam works it out step by step, and the clues are all there for your reader to spot too. The dry floor. The footprints that haven't filled up with snow yet. Something Cam saw from the bus that morning...

It's very funny as well. Classmate Danny can't stop telling terrible computer jokes (why did the hamburger go to the computer store?), and nobody laughs except him. Then he tries to take the credit for everything Cam works out.

The sentences are short and simple, so it's a great fit for a reader who's just started on chapter books by themselves. There's nothing scary in it and nobody gets hurt.

There's even a memory game at the very end to try together. It's a nice touch for a child who'll want to test their own "Click!".

It's an American school story, so expect words like parking lot and license plate.

What to read next

If they're hooked on classroom mysteries, the Clue Crew case Chick-napped is another good one. Nancy Drew and her friends have twelve eggs about to hatch in their incubator, and a class that can't wait for Day 21.