Cam Jansen and the Birthday Mystery Read Online Free PDF

Chapter One
    Quack! Quack!
    “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.
    Quack! Quack! Quack!
    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.