Parents are told that critical thinking is a crucial skill children need to develop. They are encouraged to be curious and instill a sense of open-mindedness and the desire to learn continuously.
One way to develop critical thinking is to explore the world and accept whatever experiences it gives – and what better way is there to explore the world than by literature? One material that’s commonly overlooked these days but offers the same benefits as experiencing the world is books. These don’t only cater to children’s imagination by centering on colorful imagery and interesting characters. Books are also another means of providing children with essential knowledge and skills. For instance, children’s mystery books offer the opportunity to develop analytical thinking and problem-solving, thus promoting critical thinking while incorporating fun.
Now, what makes a great mystery for children? Since the audience has a different degree of understanding than the typical mystery consumers, the clues and riddles involved in these books should be a balance of challenging and straightforward, not making them too complicated for children to understand.
Here are a few examples of books smartly delivering critical thinking for children.
1. Deductive Detective by Brian Rock
Brian Rock was able to create a fun and exciting chase of uncovering a seemingly complex mystery through his charming and amusing characters. Deductive Detective centers around Detective Duck as he discovers who among the 12 suspected animal bakers took the cake from the contest. In this entertaining cat and mouse play, Detective Duck catches the perpetrator through his cleverly deductive reasoning, clearing the air in their village and among their bakers. Additionally, children can imagine and role play as detectives since the book includes a short section describing the detective’s methods to solve the mystery. Brian Rock can teach children about the magic of reasoning and subtraction without boring his readers through the ways of Detective Duck.
2. Is It Santa? by Nelibeth Plaza
Since we’re in the line of food thieves, let’s talk about this book concerning a cookie thief. This book based on actual true events by Nelibeth Plaza takes its readers on an entertaining ride as they solve this mystery from the children’s perspective. Is It Santa focuses on Mother Rebekkah and her three children as they discover the cookies she baked for them have been moved and investigate if this was Santa’s doing. What’s fascinating about this book is that since its main characters are children, its readers – who are most likely to be children – will be able to relate to their thought processes throughout their journey closely.
3. Detective Dinosaur Undercover by James Skofield
James Skofield takes his readers to the wonderful though extremely humorous world of Detective Dinosaur as he solves three silly mysteries in this book. Children will surely enjoy solving and scrambling through these mysteries with Detective Dinosaur, who’s both charmingly clueless and clumsily clever with his work. Unlike the detectives one has ever known, this detective solves his mysteries in the most surprising ways, usually through mistakes. With this unlikely charm of Detective Dinosaur, children will be inspired to believe in themselves – that despite committing many mistakes and feeling a bit down because of them, they too may be able to solve complex problems in their own ways.
4. Detective Donut and the Wild Goose Chase by Bruce Whatley and Rosie Smith
Readers are introduced to Detective Donut as he tries to solve the disappearance of his dearest friend and world-famous archeologist, Professor Drake. Throughout the sleuthing journey, he’s also faced with the challenge of finding the professor’s Maltese statue before the Goose thief lays his hands on it, adding more pressure and obstacles to his job. On top of all these, Detective Donut also needs to do all these while resisting getting distracted by the thought of his birthday – juggling work and his personal time in his hands. Bruce and Rosie allow their readers to experience teaming up with the detective and his clever sidekick, Mouse, to crack this case using their wits.
5. Nate the Great Series by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and Andrew Sharmat
Unlike the previous books, this last slot is dedicated to a children’s mystery series composed of multiple books that follow the adventures of Nate the Great. Each book takes children on different journeys solving through hoops of complicated mysteries to deduce and solve. Though the mysteries tackled in these books might be relatively more serious than the previous ones, with its colorful and charming illustrations, this series is still perfect for children interested in cracking cases and solving problems.
