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Nate The Great (Nate The Great) (1972)
9.3/10on Open Library
Published
Annie's painting of her dog Fang disappears while the paint is still wet. Nate starts by asking what color it was and who was around while it dried. Beginning readers can hold those two details in mind and look for another painting that doesn't quite fit.
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King & Kayla and the Case of the Missing Dog Treats (2017)
Published
King is under suspicion after the peanut butter dog treats disappear, but his breath offers Kayla a clue. King notices a different smell in the house. This early reader gives the detective partners different evidence and shows them making lists that children can follow.
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Cam Jansen: The Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds
After a jewelry-store robbery, Cam can go back over the scene in her mind as if she took a photograph. Notice what the people near the store were doing before she starts replaying it. Short chapters and a small set of details make this a good first mystery to solve alongside the detective.
More about Cam Jansen: The Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds4
The absent author (1997)
9.2/10on Open Library
Published
Wallis Wallace misses a bookstore signing, so Dink and his friends start checking the places the writer was due to visit. Follow the planned route and notice where the story stops matching it. It gives newly independent chapter-book readers a sequence they can reconstruct as the three friends investigate.
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Detective Gordon: The First Case
A squirrel reports stolen nuts, and Detective Gordon makes a chart to narrow the suspects. See which animals like nuts, can climb trees, and leave tracks in snow, then compare your guesses with Gordon and Buffy’s. The illustrations and the detective's habit of stopping for cake make it an easy mystery to read aloud in short sittings.
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The buried bones mystery (2011)
Published
Ziggy and his friends plan to bury their own treasures near the clubhouse and dig up a box of bones instead. Start with where the box turns up and what the boys can actually see when they open it. Young chapter-book readers can sort those facts from the guesses the friends make as they scare each other.
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Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective (1963)
9.3/10on Open Library
Published
Each short case gives readers a chance to catch a contradiction before turning to the solution at the back. Try one at a time and say which detail gives away a bad explanation. The short format works well for a reader who wants to finish a whole investigation in one sitting.
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The Secret of the Old Clock
Nancy Drew is looking for a missing will, and an old clock comes into the story as she talks to people who knew its owner. Keep track of who remembers the clock and where they last saw it. It's a middle-grade choice for children who like following an object through several people's accounts.
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The London Eye mystery (2008)
8.9/10on Open Library
Published
Ted and Kat see Salim get on the London Eye, but they don't see him leave after the ride. Ted watches the time and tracks the capsule around the wheel. Middle-grade readers can use that sequence to make a list of possible explanations and then cross them off as the siblings learn more.
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The Parker inheritance (2018)
8.0/10on Open Library
Published
Candice finds a letter that sends her and Brandon looking into a South Carolina town's history. Watch for the details of an old tennis match as they compare what the letter says with what people remember and what the town recorded. This middle-grade mystery gives readers a reason to ask whose account has been left out.
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Book Scavenger (2015)
6.0/10on Open Library
Published
Emily and James follow clues from a hidden-book game through San Francisco. A string of numbers is worth stopping over, especially if you know what numbers are printed on the back of a book. Middle-grade readers can work some of the ciphers themselves before seeing what the characters make of them.
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Chasing Vermeer (2003)
7.3/10on Open Library
Published
A Vermeer painting goes missing, and Petra and Calder have coded messages and oddly shaped puzzle pieces to work with. Brett Helquist's pictures hide another puzzle that rewards turning back to earlier pages. This is a good middle-grade choice for readers who want to decode something on the page as well as follow the art theft.
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Greenglass House (2014)
8.4/10on Open Library
Published
Guests arrive at a snowbound inn with stories that connect them to the building, and then objects start to go missing. Milo and Meddy compare what the guests say with what disappears. Choose this longer middle-grade mystery for a reader who likes keeping track of a cast and revisiting what someone said earlier.
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The Westing Game (1978)
7.8/10on Open Library
Published
A will splits sixteen potential heirs into pairs and hands each team a different clue. Readers can keep a record of who has which words and try putting pieces together that the teams would rather keep to themselves. This middle-grade puzzle suits a reader who enjoys juggling a big cast and changing their mind.
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Murder is bad manners (2015)
10.0/10on Open Library
Published
Hazel finds a teacher's body at boarding school, but it has disappeared by the time she brings Daisy back. Hazel's account gives readers a place to start comparing what people say and when they could have been there. Pick this middle-grade mystery for readers who want a more serious case and a school full of possible suspects.
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The Case of the Missing Moonstone (2015)
8.0/10on Open Library
Published
In an imagined early nineteenth-century London, Ada Byron and Mary Godwin investigate a stolen family jewel. Someone has confessed, but something about the account doesn't add up. Middle-grade readers can keep a list of what the confession explains and what the girls still need to find out.
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