This story follows Cam, and his friend Diane, Donna and Eric, when they go to the bookstore to meet Poochie the famous TV dog. Then Poochie goes missing and they must find where he went. I think this would be a good early chapter book for younger grade school students like first graders.

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4 copies

Fifth-graders Cam Jansen and Eric Shelton, along with Eric's younger twin sisters, Donna and Diane, attend a book signing with celebrity dog Poochie in this beginning chapter-book mystery. When the man in front of them in line drops a box of dog biscuits, Poochie and Cloudy (the man's own dog) get very excited and chase one another around the bookstore. When the man leaves, Cam discovers that he took Poochie with him, rather than Cloudy. Is it an accident, or is something more sinister afoot...?

I read quite a few of these Cam Jansen mysteries when I was young - I'd say when I was in third grade or so - and I always enjoyed how Cam and Eric managed to run around town solving puzzles, with little or no parental involvement. It might not have been very realistic - and probably would be considered quite dated today, given the trend of helicopter parenting that has developed in the years since this was first published, in the early 1980s - but it was quite satisfying to me as a child reader. Rereading this as an adult - part of a current project - I found the mystery and adventure here rather slight. That said, young readers just getting going with chapter-books will no doubt find it engaging, just as I did years ago. ( )

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