Plot-driven tales of intrigue are great for building a habit of reading, since most kids will have a hard time putting down a well-constructed story until they find out what happens. Allow your child's preference for contemporary, historical, or fantasy books to guide his choices toward topics and characters that will fascinate him.
Why They're Worthwhile
Due to their suspenseful nature, high-quality mysteries keep readers' brains constantly working to decode and analyze the events. This active reading will prepare your child not only for future pleasure reading, but tackling textbooks, nonfiction, or even the newspaper!
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Talking the Talk
Engage your child as much as possible while he's reading the book. Ask her questions: What do you think will happen? Who seems suspicious? Compare what's going on to current events where relevant. After each chapter or section, ask her to guess what's going to happen. When she finishes the book, compare what she thought would happen with the actual outcome.
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Beyond the Books
Mysteries offer many ways to keep your child thinking about the story. Try one of these options to explore it further:- For books based on actual characters, objects, and events, give your child the tools to delve further into what inspired the story. For example, Chasing Vermeer is a tale of two kids trying to figure out who created a painting. Get a book about Vermeer and look further at his paintings. Or even go to see an actual Vermeer painting!
- Create a simple problem for your child to figure out, and see if he can do it by employing techniques he learned while reading. Tell her that you're thinking of a particular object or person and play a game of 20 questions — where you can only give yes or no answers — to test her detective skills.
- If there's a current mystery or detective case going on in your area, challenge her to set up a detective notebook to track what's happening in the newspaper.
- Engage your child with fun sleuthing crafts and activities. Build a time capsule, write secret messages in various ways, such as through sign language or invisible ink, and learn to create and crack codes using different methods like online games, Morse code and code books - encourage her to come up with her own codes too.
Top Titles to Try
Start building your mystery bookshelf with these standouts - from
Classics
For younger readers:
- The Cam Jansen series by David A. Adler
- Miss Nelson is Missing! by Harry Allard
- Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems
- I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen.
For older readers:
- The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley.
- The Baby-Sitters Club Mysteries series by Ann M. Martin
- The Nancy Drew Notebooks series by Carolyn Keene
- The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.
Lesser-known Wonders
For younger readers:
- Alphabet Mystery by Audrey Wood.
- A Day with Wilbur Robinson by William Joyce.
- Who Took the Cookies From the Cookie Jar? by Bonnie Lass and Philemon Sturges.
- The A to Z Mysteries series by Ron Roy.
For older readers:
- Arthur's Mystery Envelope by Marc Brown.
- Grave Images by Jenny Goebel.
- The Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars series by Tracy Mack.
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The Nina, the Pinta, and the Vanishing Treasure by Jill Santopolo.