Cam Jansen and the Birthday Mystery

Table of Contents

 

Mr. Jansen stood back. He looked at his parents and asked, “Are you hurt?”

“No,” Granny said. “The cab driver just told us to get out of his cab. So we did.”

“You should have seen him drive off,” Gramps added. “Someone should have given him a ticket for speeding.”

Granny told the police officers, “We were looking for another cab when I realized he had our luggage and the two birthday gifts we brought along. It’s all in the trunk of his cab.”

Gramps said, “That’s why he drove off so fast. And that’s why he left us far away from anyone who could help us. He didn’t just want us out of his cab. He wanted to keep our luggage and gifts.”

The Cam Jansen Adventure Series

DON’T FORGET ABOUT THE YOUNG CAM JANSEN SERIES FOR YOUNGER READERS!

PUFFIN BOOKS
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First published in the United States of America by Viking,
a member of Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers, 2000
Published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2002, 2005

Text copyright © David A. Adler, 2000

Illustrations copyright © Susanna Natti, 2000
All rights reserved

 

eISBN : 978-1-101-07602-6

 

 

RL: 2.0

Chapter One

“The ducks look hungry,” Cam Jansen said to her parents. “Let’s feed them.”

“We didn’t bring bread,” Cam’s mother told her.

“And it’s getting late,” Cam’s father added. “It’s almost time for dinner.”

Cam looked at her watch. It was getting late, but not late enough. She had to keep her parents at the park a while longer.

Cam looked around. People were sitting on benches. An old man and woman walked by. They were holding hands. There were ducks on the lake. A boy and his mother were riding in a small boat. “Let’s walk around the lake,” Cam suggested, “or rent a boat.”

“No,” Mr. Jansen told her. “We must get home.”

Cam’s parents started toward the parking lot. Cam didn’t. She blinked her eyes and said,
“Click.”
Then she closed her eyes and called to her parents, “Give me a memory quiz. Ask me how many ducks are on the lake. Ask me how many people are sitting on benches.”

Mr. Jansen turned and said, “OK. How many ducks are on the lake?”

Cam has a photographic memory. It’s as if she has a mental camera with pictures in her head of whatever she has seen. When Cam wants to be sure to remember something, she blinks her eyes and says,
“Click.”
Cam says
“Click”
is the sound her mental camera makes when it takes a picture.

With her eyes still closed, Cam looked at the picture she had in her head. She counted the ducks.

The boy in the boat threw a pebble into the lake.

Six ducks flew off.

“There are twelve ducks,” Cam said with her eyes still closed.

“I’m sorry,” Cam’s father told her, and smiled. “There are only six ducks swimming on the lake.”

Cam opened her eyes and counted the ducks.

“I was wrong!” Cam said. “But I
clicked!
I’m never wrong when I
click!”

“Six and six are twelve,” Mr. Jansen joked. “Maybe your mental camera took a double exposure.”

“Don’t tease Cam,” Mrs. Jansen told her husband. Then she said to Cam, “There’s nothing wrong with your camera. When you clicked there were twelve ducks in the lake. Some of them flew off.”

Cam’s real name is Jennifer, but when people found out about her amazing photographic memory, they nicknamed her “The Camera.” Soon her nickname was shortened to “Cam.”

Cam looked at the many people sitting on benches. She blinked her eyes and said,
“Click.”
Then she closed her eyes.

“Now ask me about the benches,” Cam said. “Ask me about the people sitting on them.”

Mr. Jansen asked, “What color is the shirt of the man sitting on the bench close to the lake?”

Cam smiled. “You’re trying to trick me,” she answered. “There’s a woman sitting on that bench. She’s wearing a blue jacket, a blue-and-green striped shirt, and white pants. Her hair is red, like mine, and she’s wearing a scarf.”

“You’re right,” Mr. Jansen said. “You really do have an amazing memory. Now let’s go home.”

Cam opened her eyes. She looked at her watch.

“Oh, no!” Cam said. “It’s so late. Let’s hurry home.”

As they walked to their car, Mr. Jansen said to Cam, “At first, you wanted to stay here. Now you’re in a rush to get home. You’re acting funny.”

“I’m just acting
hungry,”
Cam told her father. “I want to go home and eat dinner.”

“Maybe we should go to a restaurant,” Mrs. Jansen said when they were in the car.

“Oh, no!” Cam said. “Let’s eat at home. We have egg salad and spinach left from lunch. That’s what I want.”

Mrs. Jansen turned and looked at Cam. “At lunch you said you hated egg salad and spinach. You
are
acting funny.”

They drove for a while. Then they turned the corner onto their block.

“It’s Sunday,” Mrs. Jansen said as they got close to their house. “Why are so many cars parked here? What’s going on?”

Chapter Two

Cam was right behind her parents as they walked from the car to the front of the house. Mr. Jansen opened the door.

The hall and living room were filled with friends and family. Many of them were wearing party hats. Some were blowing noise makers. There were lots of
Happy Birthday!
and
Congratulations!
signs.

Cam’s parents looked around. They were both smiling.

Cam and the party guests sang, “Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, Jane and Barry. Happy birthday to you.”

“This is such a surprise,” Mr. Jansen said.

“All our favorite people are here,” Mrs. Jansen added.

Cam’s friend Eric Shelton was at the party. So were his parents, with his twin sisters, Donna and Diane, and his baby brother, Howie.

“Excuse me, please. Excuse me,” Mr. Shelton called out. He carried in a large cake.

The cake was covered with pink icing.
“40 and
40”was written in blue icing in the center of the cake.

Mr. and Mrs. Jansen’s fortieth birthdays were during the week, just a few days apart.

“Whose idea was this?” Mrs. Jansen asked.

“It was Cam‘s,” Eric said. “She planned the party. She kept you at the park so we could set everything up.”