Danny Frank First Book Review

Adler, David, and Susanna Natti.  Cam Jansen: The Mystery of the Babe Ruth Baseball. New York: Puffin Books, 1982. Print.

Cam Jansen: The Mystery of the Babe Ruth Baseball is a short chapter book, in the collection of nearly thirty Cam Jansen books, in the series written by David Adler. This story tells of Jennifer "Cam" Jansen, a young female detective with a photographic memory who decides to take up a case on a recently gone missing autographed Babe Ruth baseball. Using her detective techniques along with help from her sidekick Eric Shelton, she tracks down the thief who stole the baseball from a hobby show and returns the ball to its' rightful owner. 

Although this book is centered around the reading levels of six to nine year olds, I still find story to be very entertaining and have picked up on some of the underlying messages and techniques that I had not readily recognized as a child while reading this book. A common literary element known as a motif is represented by Cam's popular phrase "click"as she enables her photographic memory to remember very specific details about what see has seen.  Although it is not required for her to say the word "click" to remember things, it helps young readers identify when she is using her memory. Overall the word "click" is said eleven times by Cam, and is italicized in the text to help readers make note of its importance. Another aspect that I had not picked up on as a child is the important moral issues and good decision making strategies that are filled in the novel. Politeness is personified by Eric as he apologizes to two elderly women by saying, "I'm sorry, excuse me," as Cam and him take off  running between the two women after the baseball thief. Another seemingly comical issue although very serious that children learn at a young age is to look both ways before crossing the street. It is reiterated three times in the novel with one specific case where the thief takes off running across the street not even looking as he crossed, unlike Cam and Eric who the author points out look both ways before ever crossing.  I feel that this is an issue that six to nine year old kids can relate to and in order for them to be more like Cam and Eric they will want to look both ways if they are ever crossing the street.

 

I feel that the main reason I was so attracted to this series as a child was because it fell along the lines of a mystery novel, similar to my favorite juvenile series Goosebumps. I enjoy the sense of excitement while tracking the "bad" guy. In this Cam Jansen story readers are given clues to who could be the true baseball thief as Cam tries to solve to case. As she begins to make progress, so do the readers as if they too were detectives themselves solving the case. This story makes children begin to think ahead and try to figure out how the ending will conclude before reaching the last few pages.  I feel that as a young child this book helps the beginning stages of logic which are essential in making efficient decisions in one's future.

Another main reason, I feel why I liked this book particularly most out of the series is because of its reference to sports and especially baseball. Growing up I was typically the student who was successful in school but when the 3:10 bell rang, the rest of my day was spent being involved with sports rather then reading. Although it was not that I didn't enjoy reading, I just didn't find it particularly exciting, but that's because I didn't always find books to my interest. I remember after discovering these mystery novels, I began spending more time reading and with the sports references in this book it taught me about great baseball players of the past.  Along with referencing Babe Ruth in this story, other famous baseball players like Reggie Jackson, Satchel Paige, and Stan Musial are all mentioned. Although these names probably have no impact on the average nine year old, to some one who greatly enjoys baseball it gives them names of some of the sports' greatest players to play the game.

One final aspect of this book that I did enjoy is the illustrations provided by Susanna Natti. Although this is definitely not a picture book, about every three pages there is a small illustration visually describing what is going on in the scene. Because I find myself to be much more of a visual learner I found these illustrations to be especially useful to keep my attention. Using them as a reference to what the setting and characters in the story looked like helped me imagine the rest of the story in my head. I also find that sometimes a short break from words to look at a picture also helps me stay focused on the book because after awhile my attention span shortens and to look at a picture that relates to the book helps me to want to continue reading. Although the illustrations are done in black and white and there is not much detail to them, I still find the pictures very useful personally. To conclude, I feel that this opportunity has reenlightened my appreciation to one of my favorite series of books growing up, and reading it now again as an adult I can understand why I found these books to be useful and entertaining.