Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds

David A. Adler is an American author of over 200 books for children. After earning a BA in economics and history at Queens College, he became a teacher in New York City and taught mathematics and history for nine years. In 1977, while on parental leave to care for his newborn son, Adler began writing the Cam Jansen mystery series, inspired by the various childcare accoutrements that he had to take with him whenever he left the house. However, upon securing the services of a literary agent, he soon discovered that there was no specific market for a book that was geared towards “emerging readers”: “children who read slowly, puzzling out one word at a time” but have not yet graduated to the level of stories with advanced characterization, chapters, and extraneous descriptions (“Cam Jansen and the First Chapter Book Revolution.” Cam Jansen Mysteries.). 

Because his book was limited strictly to bare-bones plot points but was still divided into chapters, Adler experienced considerable pushback from publishers who simply did not know how to categorize this new form of storytelling. Eventually, Adler successfully published his book with Viking Press and embraced their suggestion that he transform the story premise into an ongoing series.