Everybody loves great mystery books, even children. See, long before Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle filled your bookshelves, you were also a kid enraptured by Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game and Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene. Mystery books for kids are superb because they foster logical thinking and deductive reasoning, and sometimes they’re just plain fun. So why not introduce your children to this genre? There are so many fantastic mystery standalone books, both new and tried and true. The list spans everything from missing cookies to cake thieves. Help budding little detectives hone their sleuthing skills with these mystery books.
Nate the Great by Marjorie Sharmat and Andrew Sharmat
Esmeralda has the perfect name for Rosamond’s pet concert, but she lost the paper where she wrote the word. And unfortunately, she can’t remember what it is. So with the help of Nate the Great and his trusted dog sidekick, Sludge, they set out to solve this unusual case. Join the world’s greatest detective and solve the mystery of the missing word. This book is perfect for honing your kids’ problem-solving and logical thinking abilities. Growing readers will love following along as this boy detective collects clues and applies his deductive skills to solve cases.
Is It Santa? byNelibeth Plaza
It’s Christmas Day, and Santa is coming tonight. Mya, Charlie, and Jacob are excited for Santa to visit and give them their gifts. But what they didn’t expect upon coming home was a wrecked coffee table. Santa’s cookies were gone, and it was too early for him to visit. So who could have eaten the cookies mother Rebekkah baked? These children set on to find the culprit and save Christmas night, or Santa won’t visit. Is It Santa? will be your kids’ first foray into the world of sleuthing. Allow your kids to hop in the search for missing Christmas cookies for Santa on Nelibeth Plaza’s book. This book is a great whodunit geared towards younger readers. As they follow along, they experience deductive reasoning for themselves. Future mystery enthusiasts will enjoy this fun-filled story.
I Lost My Sock! A Matching Mystery by P.J. Roberts
Fox enlists the help of his good old friend Ox to locate his missing sock. And it seems that Ox has an endless supply of socks, but none match the missing socks. Is the sock missing or not? Help Fox and Ox find Fox’s missing sock. I Lost My Sock! is a hilarious encounter between two friends that will leave your little ones giggling with delight from the fun and whimsy animal duo. Children of all ages will have fun helping the frustrated Fox locate and sort through the crazy suggestions Ox offers.
Deductive Detective by Brian Rock
Someone stole a cake from the cake contest; who could it be? Follow deductive Detective Duck as he tries to quack the case. Among twelve animal bakers, one is the suspect. This clever story will have your children giggling and thinking of the puns and play on words as they embark on solving the mystery. The illustrations are amusing and have some hidden humor for extra fun. So allow your kids to work with Detective Duck to find the culprit and uncover the identity of the cake thief. Additionally, the book includes two pages of learning activities for creative minds, deductive reasoning, and comparison tasks. Deductive Detective is a great book to get young ones into mystery.
The Mystery of King Karfu by Doug Cushman
The great detective Seymour Sleuth and his assistant Muggs journey to Egypt searching for the missing stone chicken. And the only clue they have is the location of the Lost Treasure of King Karfu. The Mystery of King Karfu leads readers through a mysterious adventure with the wombat Seymour Sleuth. It has all the elements of mystery books, plus it has a secret code that your kids will likely enjoy cracking. Kids can listen for clues, learn a little history and geography, and be enveloped in colorful, detailed pictures.
