Mysteries for Younger Independent Readers

At 88 pages long, The Burglar Who Bit the Big Apple by Steve Brezeneff packs a lot of punch in such a short book.

Because it’s short and contains beautiful full-color illustrations by C.B. Canga, this book will attract younger readers, however, I think that the story will hold up to fourth or fifth graders who like a good story but don’t want to read a long book.

This book is part of a series called the Field Trip Mysteries by Stone Arch Publishers. I am not familiar with it, but I think we’d definitely check out some of the others, set in San Francisco, New Orleans, or Washington D.C.

Sterling Publishers brings us Doyle and Fossey, the Science Detectives. There are several books in the series. Kyle and I read and enjoyed The Case of the Crooked Carnival, in which 5th graders Drake Doyle and Nell Fossey actually tackle a couple of crimes. There’s a classmate who lives in a creepy house and is not getting sleep at night because he’s convinced it’s haunted. They solve that mystery, and then save the town from a bridge that might collapse. Finally they see another classmate at the carnival who keeps getting this close to winning. Doyle and Fossey are on the case.

The cover of this book looks a little amateurish and young to me and gave me low expectations, but what’s inside wowed me. This set of friends and partners in crime (solving), are likable. I liked the fact that there were several cases within one book which moves the story along, and of course having both a boy and a girl protagonist is always a good idea to attract more readers. They use science and logical reasoning to solve the cases, which would definitely appeal to a science-loving child, or perhaps even create some interest in one who is lukewarm about it. However, the science isn’t at all heavy-handed or obvious. It’s a natural, fun and interesting part of the story. You can download a classroom guide (that I’m sure could be used at home as well) at the publisher’s website.

I was introduced to both of these books because they were nominated for a Cybils award in Middle Grade Fiction. If you read them, you could use them toward the Cybils KidLit Challenge.

Jennifer Donovan loves sharing books with her kids Amanda (12) and Kyle (6). She even loves kidlit when she’s not sharing. She blogs at Snapshot.