Critter Club – Amy and the Missing Puppy

Callie Barkley's Amy and the Missing Puppy is a gentle first mystery for 5 year olds about a girl with a notebook, a Nancy Drew book and a puppy who's run off in a storm.

What happens

It's spring break and Amy's three best friends all have somewhere exciting to be. Marion's off to a horse show. Liz is going to the beach. Ellie's at home with her nana's parrot, who sings nonstop (she does NOT find this funny).

Amy has nothing planned except a new mystery book. So she helps out at her mum's vet clinic next door, which is where she meets Rufus. He's an enormous Saint Bernard puppy and he knocks her clean off her chair to cover her in doggy kisses.

Rufus belongs to Ms Sullivan. She lives alone in a huge house on the edge of town and hardly ever smiles. The local children are a bit scared of her (and so are some of the grown-ups).

That night there's a thunderstorm and Ms Sullivan turns up at the door in tears. Rufus has dug under her fence and vanished.

What would Nancy Drew do? Amy gets out a little green notebook and starts writing down clues. Muddy paw prints turn up all over town. So does an empty bag of dog treats with one corner chewed open.

It's a lovely one to read together because the clues are there for your reader too. They can have a go at working it out before Amy does. And it's a proper little detective story without anything scary in it.

Amy is super easy to root for. She blushes whenever she's nervous and her nose is usually in a book. Ellie is the dramatic one (she sings into a hairbrush), and Liz draws the MISSING PUPPY posters.

There's a quiet message tucked in as well. Ellie's sure Rufus ran away from "mean old Ms Sullivan". Amy isn't so sure, and of course she puts it in terms of books and their covers.

This is the first Critter Club book, and its last chapter sets up everything that comes after it. So it's very much the place to start.

What to read next

If your reader finishes wanting another case about a missing pet, try The Canary Caper. Three friends in a small town go looking for a neighbour's lost canary, and then Ruth Rose's own cat goes missing too.