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Natalia
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Inspired by Dawn's post (on her blog)about book baskets I thought about creating a mystery basket for my kids. Both my kids (12 and 9) like mysteries. Any good ones you can think of?
Natalia
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Christine
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The Happy Hollisters and Trixie Belden series are liked, here.
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marihalojen
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Trixie Belden - yeah!
Sherlock Holmes, for your older
Encyclopedia Brown, many quick and fun summer reads
And the best mystery book ever - The Eleventh Hour: A Curious Mystery An amazing book, we recommend it to boaters getting ready for a crossing - it'll keep a person occupied for weeks (weeks!) if you don't give in and peek at the intricate answers (don't!) A must read.
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Natalia
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Christine, Are the Happy Hollisters more suitable for boys or girls? i have forgotten about Trixie Belden. I think my dd would love them.
Jennifer, The Eleventh Hour sounds like something we would love around here. I never heard of it before. Thanks
I was thinking about introducing my eldest (12) to Hercules Poirot...
Natalia
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Mary G
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marihalojen wrote:
And the best mystery book ever - The Eleventh Hour: A Curious Mystery An amazing book, we recommend it to boaters getting ready for a crossing - it'll keep a person occupied for weeks (weeks!) if you don't give in and peek at the intricate answers (don't!) A must read. |
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Graeme Base is great! His illustration of Jabberwocky is a classic! Definitely worth the cost!
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I don't know if I'd expose your 11 yo to Poirot -- although he's very good, some of the mysteries can be a bit on the seedy side of events. Miss Marple is a bit less risque. How 'bout Father Brown? Nancy Brown has done a study guide of The Blue Cross for Hillside Education -- and I believe she's done some middle-level readers of other Chesterton things that are due out this summer.
You might want to throw in a couple of Nancy Drews and Hardy Boys -- the old ones are better IMHO -- and a classic, that's probably only at the library is Who Rides in the Dark by Stephen Meader (which has a bit of living history to boot!)
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Dawn
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Natalia wrote:
| Inspired by Dawn's post (on her blog)about book baskets I thought about creating a mystery basket for my kids. Both my kids (12 and 9) like mysteries. Any good ones you can think of? |
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Thanks, Natalia.  And I love your idea of a mystery basket!
We haven't read any of these, but I've had my eye on them for a while ~ Eco Mysteries, a series by Jean Craighead George. Anyone familiar with these?
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Cici
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One of my all time favorite "mysteries" at the age, was The Westing Game.
I love(d) this book and read it repeatedly. Also, I could never put the pieces together - no matter how many times I read it - and solve it before the book was over. I was just thinking about this book today - I may have to read it again.
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Kelly
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How about "Detectives in Togas" and "The Roman Ransom Mystery" by Winter. My kids loved these books and re-read them all the time.
I just bought the "Westing Game" for dc. I may have to read it myself, first!
Happy Hollisters are OK for boys or girls, being about a family---but I suspect they'll be more of a hit with girls. Hardy Boys (ironically written by the same syndicate as the Happy Hollisters AND Nancy Drew...)are big crowd pleasers around here, especially around the ages of your kids. Try to avoid the newer "mod" versions. They're not as good (according to my 11yo ds and his friends), and the Hardy Boys are not as clean cut as they used to be! Same goes for Nancy Drew.
My 13yodd has been reading and enjoying the Jane Austen mysteries by Stephanie Barron. The "Ghost of Nutley Manor" has a Catholic theme to it, too.
Oh, some of the Sherlock Holmes short mysteries are great. Maybe you could include a few taped Sherlock Holmes mysteries in your basket, too. I think Jim Weiss has a Sherlock Holmes tape that is available.
Also, maybe you could work in a little art history, too, by throwing in one of those Art History Mysteries from the series called "Art Fraud Detective". Using the pictures to piece together the clues, the kids discover WhoDunnit. Fun.
Kelly in FL
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lapazfarm
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As a science tie-in you could do one of those crime labs science kits where you solve the crime looking at blood types, DNA, hair and fiber samples, fingerprints, etc. Or just do a study of fingerprints and make up your own crime. Hmmm...Now I might just have to jump in on this one! It sounds too fun!
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MEBarrett
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Good for you! I started reading mysteries at about 8 years old and it remains my favorite genre.
Is your 12 year old ready for Poe? Murders in the Rue Morgue is a short story that is credited with giving birth to modern detective fiction. I think The Gold Bug is his other Auguste Dupin (the detective) story.
John Dickson Carr has some really good locked room mysteries. You may want to preview for an adult theme. As with Agatha Christie the stories are set in the early 1900's and are very innocent but occasionally a husband or wife isn't behaving the way they should. It is always alluded to rather than said outright and I was reading them for years before I caught on (innocent or dumb - I have no idea).
How about Nancy Drew? The Boxcar Children (haven't read them but have heard good things)? The American Girl Series has mysteries for Samantha and Felicity, probably the other characters as well. Hardy Boys?
An easy leap from the mysteries are books like Frankenstein, Mary Shelley and Dracula, Bram Stoker.
Good luck, it sounds like my kind of basket.
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marihalojen
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Don't forget the board game CLUE! It would fit in the basket - right?
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momwise
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Kelly wrote:
| maybe you could work in a little art history, too, by throwing in one of those Art History Mysteries from the series called "Art Fraud Detective" |
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We're just starting out with the Art Auction Mystery. We're working on the Annunciation by Fra Angelico and it's taking us forever to find the 8 mistakes (we found 7 in a day but we can't find the 8th).
Thanks for the mystery suggestions. I think we'll get a few of them this summer. My 14 yo ds has enjoyed Alfred Hitchcock Solve them Yourself Mysteries, an old oop book I found at the thrift store.
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Kelly
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Hey Gwen, I think Alfred Hitchcock wrote the first few books of the "Three Investigator" series (though I'm pretty sure later ones were from a syndicate). You might check 'em out-I really liked those books when I was a kid.
Also, Natalia, your older child might like Josephine Tey's great history mystery, "Daughter of Time" about King Richard. I picked it up in large print edition for my ds when he was about 12, maybe 13, and he liked it. It's about a detective who's laid up with a broken leg, so he puts his investigative energies to solving a really old crime, the alleged murder, by Richard, of the two English princes (that aspect of the book might be too disturbing for your dc, but OTOH your dc might already know that history bit, so just a headzup).
BTW, getting Large Print editions of books is a great way to lure hestitant readers into big chapter books. I find the print font often scares kids away more than the actual words!
Kelly in FL
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JennGM
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Kelly wrote:
| Hey Gwen, I think Alfred Hitchcock wrote the first few books of the "Three Investigator" series (though I'm pretty sure later ones were from a syndicate). You might check 'em out-I really liked those books when I was a kid. |
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Oh yes, Kelly!  We didn't have too many of these, but one we did own fell into pieces: "Secret of the Crooked Cat."
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Mary G
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Kelly wrote:
BTW, getting Large Print editions of books is a great way to lure hestitant readers into big chapter books. I find the print font often scares kids away more than the actual words!
Kelly in FL
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Kelly, this is a great idea! One of those "duh" moments. Thanks for suggesting.
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MaryG
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What about Bobbsey Twins and Boxcar children series? Are those considered twaddle? I have not read the latter. I did enjoy Bobbsey Twins growing up.
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Natalia
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Thanks all of you for the recommendations.
Searching around the internet for some whodunits for kids I came accross this website
mysteries
I has some great lesson plans. Also this one
Carol Hurst
It has some interesting reccomendations but they seem to need some previewing.
Natalia
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Dawn
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Natalia, I just ordered Freddy, the Detective to read with my boys. I think it might be more humor than mystery, but thought I would mention it.
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Natalia
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Dawn wrote:
| Natalia, I just ordered Freddy, the Detective to read with my boys. I think it might be more humor than mystery, but thought I would mention it. |
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I was just comming to mentioned that book. I went to the used books store yesterday and came accross two of the series! They looked fun!
Natalia
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Jen L.
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How about Alvin's Secret Code? It was recently republished by Bethlehem Books.
Another is Secret Agents Four by the same author (Sobol) as Encyclopedia Brown, but different tone and format.
I haven't read this one, The Lost Baron but it looks to have distinct possibilites.
Finally, I recommend doing a quick search on the word "mystery" at Bethlehem Books. It brings up several possibilites, including A Long Way From Welcome and Big John's Secret which also look great!
Now you've got me ready to go shopping! (Or at least to request my library get some of these books!)
Hope this helps,
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4Real Forums : Living Literature
Topic: Mystery books
