Bridging the Gap V: Stepping into Chapter Books

Here is another early chapter series which features a detective with special powers.

For the novice chapter book reader who prefers a brainy, redheaded sleuth in her middle twenties, the obvious choice is the Cam Jansen series by David Adler, whose girl detective Cam Jansen has been entertaining mystery readers for more than a quarter century. Jennifer Jansen, nicknamed Cam for her photographic memory (Cam is short for Camera), solves mysteries by her total recall of every scene she has ever, er, seen. Accompanied by her loyal buddy Eric and comic relief class clown Danny, Cam seems to have a talent for showing up just before a crime is committed and an even greater talent for coming up with the crook just in time.

Cheerfully illustrated by Susanna Natti, these beginning chapter mysteries range from Accelerated Reader levels 3.2 to 3.9 and have around 60 pages. The "crooks" are non-threatening purse snatchers and the like, and Cam and Eric are never far from a parent, their school, or their homes when they do their detecting.

For slightly younger readers, Adler has also begun the Young Cam Jansen series, tayloring these shorter mysteries for readers between AR levels 2.3 and 2.8, and featuring a younger Cam Jansen as the gumshoe with the retentive memory.

The Cam Jansen mysteries have certainly met the test of time in their 26 years of publication and may just be the step-up chapter books that meet the challenge for the right reader.

Bridging the Gap IV: Stepping into Chapter Books

My first experience with Ron Roy's A to Z Mysteries came when a very bright and very assertive first grader came up with a couple of said mysteries and pleaded, "I read both of these all the way through by myself. I'll give them to the library if you will write the AR (Accelerated Reader) quizzes for me to take." With a request like that, what can you say but "Sure! Soon as I can." It didn't take long to find out that the kid had picked a winner, and we soon added many more A to Z Mysteries and quizzes to our early chapter book arsenal.

The series, written at third grade level, feature a trio of sleuths, Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose, who live in Green Lawn, a pleasant town which just happens to have a lot of mysteries that need solving. The mysteries run the gamut from The Absent Author through The Talking T. Rex to The Zombie Zone. When the pace of crime gets slow around Green Lawn, the kids go on location, as in The Zombie Zone, where a camping trip in Louisiana bayou country uncovers a hoax in which a voodoo zombie is seen digging up a village graveyard.

The three main characters are well delineated, the settings are varied, and the plots feature real foreshadowing in which the reader may figure out the clues before the detective trio do. The mysteries involve kid-tested subjects such as (supposed) vampires, ghosts, robotic dinosaurs, quicksand, and wolves. Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose are smart, funny, and resourceful kids, and adults are available but mostly uninvolved in the crime-stopping until time for the final collar.

Ron Roy has recently extended the initial 26 titles with a second series of the A to Z sleuths, including Detective Camp and Mayflower Treasure Hunt.

Another mystery series by Ron Roy, featuring kid detectives Marshall Li and K.C. Corcoran, is the Capital Mysteries, which include, in order of publication, Who Cloned the President?, Kidnapped at the Capitol, Skeleton in the Smithsonian, Spy in the White House, Who Broke Lincoln's Thumb, Trouble at the Treasury, Fireworks at the FBI, and to be published in May, 2007, Mystery at the Washington Monument.

These books have a lot to offer in the way of logical thinking, incidental learning, and just plain fun reading for the early chapter book crowd. And--Ron Roy's still writing more!

Bridging the Gap III: Stepping into Chapter Books

Okay, full disclosure here. I'm a major fan of the Junie B. Jones series. I'm not ashamed to reveal that I still burst out laughing reading these books late at night!

I have long been an admirer of Barbara Park since she won our state (Tennessee) children's choice award for Operation: Dump the Chump back in the '80's. To me, she's one of the funniest writers around--funny, and yet genuinely respectful of the real issues of her characters in the way that, say, Beverly Cleary is with Ramona Quimby.

Junie B. Jones (her middle name is Beatrice, but she only likes the B.) begins the series as a kindergartner who is part Carol Burnett and part Lily Tomlin. She is a not-so-sophisticated five-year-old who nonetheless is quite self aware. In the first book of the series, Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus, Junie B. is terrified of riding the bus home on her first day at Kindergarten. Ever resourceful, Junie B. slips out of the bus line, hides out in a cupboard, and enjoys the pleasures of the now deserted classroom, library, and nurse's office until she realizes that the bathrooms are locked for the night and she's REALLY gotta go--"speedy quick." Junie B. knows what to do in an emergency. Sure, call 911! Well, this is an emergency, right? When the EMR vehicle roars up to the school, sirens blazing, Junie B. pleads for help and the custodian unlocks the girl's restroom, just in time!

During her first day at school we meet the characters which feature strongly in the rest of the Kindergarten series--Junie B.'s "bestest" friends, "that Grace," and "that Lucille" (who has a richie nana and terminally fluffy hair), "crybaby William," their teacher "Mrs.," the kindly custodian, Junie B.'s Grampa Frank and Granma Helen, and of course, Junie B.'s harried parents.

I can vouch for this series as a readaloud. Since each book can be read in about 45 minutes, I used the holiday titles with kids from first to third grade with resulting chuckles, guffaws, and howls of laughter through the year. On one of our more, er, exciting school days, we had a severe weather alert which ended with the power going out for the last half of the day. I had to lead a first-grade class out of the library and huddle us around a door in the Kindergarten hall where what passed for daylight illuminated the pages just enough for me to be able to read them. Despite parents coming and going to pick up their kids all around us, swirling clouds, and rumbles of thunder, I never lost the group's rapt attention to Junie B's latest adventure. Now that's a good book!

The Kindergarten and first-grade series (Junie B., First Grader) both follow Junie's progress through the school year, hitting such milestones as school carnivals, Valentine's Day, field trips, and, with the most recent book Junie B., First Grader: Dumb Bunny, a class party in which Junie B. has to dress like an Easter Bunny, a getup which definitely cramps her style! The official Accelerated Reader levels for the full series range from the middle of second grade to early third grade, making them accessible for most kids who are ready to move right into chapter books

Some of Junie B.'s critics snipe at her Junie-isms such as "I runned speedy quick" for their poor grammar, but I found that kids laughed and corrected them quietly as we went along. Another criticism is that readers in second and third grade are embarrassed to read about a lowly Kindergartner or first grader, but I found that the older kids, having just left behind fears of smelly school buses and killer farm roosters, enjoyed feeling a bit superior and yet empathetic at the same time.

I still remember those long ago days in Kindergarten and first grade and how world-shaking every experience seemed to me, so I guess I feel a bit superior and more than a little sympathetic with Junie B. Jones, too. Maybe those of us who love her see a part of ourselves in her naive but boundless joie de vivre.