Mystery books for 5th graders
Airborn
by: Kenneth Oppel - (Eos, 2004) 544 pages.
Matt is a cabin boy on board a luxurious airship, the Aurora. Matt meets Kate, who has arranged for a flight on the Aurora so that she can investigate diary entries her grandfather made regarding large, feline creatures with bat-like wings. Soon, the Aurora is attacked by pirates and forced by a storm to land on a tropical island. While exploring the island, Matt and Kate stumble across the bones of one of the “cloud cats” and observe one living in the treetops. But they are captured by the pirates, whose hideout is on the very same island. Will Matt and Kate be able to escape? You won’t want to stop turning the pages until you know the answer! Rich with action, the character development does not suffer. Matt and Kate are likable heroes, the pirates vile and even the airship, Aurora, takes on a personality of its own.
Perfect for: Kids who like mysteries.
Find at your local library.
Chasing Vermeer
by: Blue Balliett - (Scholastic, 2004) 254 pages.
Mysterious letters, picture puzzles called “pentominoes,” and a stolen painting by the Dutch artist Vermeer unite unlikely friends, Petra Andalee and Calder Pillay, in an effort to solve a mystery.
Perfect for: Kids who like mysteries.
Find at your local library.
Encyclopedia Brown Cracks the Case
by: Donald J. Sobol - (Dutton, 2007) 128 pages.
Children will enjoy beating Encyclopedia Brown to the solution in each of these 10 short stories. The cases require different knowledge to solve them, so this collection is good for budding history buffs and scientists.
Perfect for: Kids who like mysteries.
Find at your local library.
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
by: E.L. Konigsburg - (Simon & Schuster, 1967) 162 pages.
Twelve-year-old Claudia and her younger brother Jamie are running away from the tyranny of unappreciative parents and the drudgery of day-to-day living. Claudia has carefully hand-picked the beautiful Metropolitan Museum of Art as their new home. There they quite unexpectedly stumble upon an unknown statue by none other than Michelangelo…or is it? Winner of the 1967 Newbery Award.
Perfect for: Kids who like mysteries.
Find at your local library.
The Homework Machine
by: Dan Gutman - (Simon & Schuster, 2006) 160 pages.
Young readers will recognize their classmates and maybe themselves in the key witnesses who describe the events (interrogation-style) leading up to the discovery, use and destruction of a computer that was supposed to make kids’ lives easier. It didn’t.
Perfect for: Kids who like mysteries.
Find at your local library.
The Lady Grace Mysteries
by: Lady Grace Cavendish - (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2004)
Series by various authors writing as Lady Grace Cavendish (Random House, 2004-2006). Lady Grace Cavendish is the Nancy Drew of the Elizabethan Age, an independent-minded teenager whose godmother just happens to be Elizabeth I. Court intrigues and rivalries, swashbucklers, unlikely friends and a mystery in each book make these very lively historical novels.
Perfect for: Kids who like mysteries.
Find at your local library.
Spy Force Mission: In Search of the Time and Space Machine
by: Deborah Abela, illustrated by: George O'Connor - (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2005) 240 pages.
An 11-year-old girl discovers boredom is the least of her problems during the summer she spends at her aunt’s farm. Her secret-agent stories take on a new reality when she happens upon a real spy ring. This story is the ultimate thriller for our age.
Perfect for: Kids who like mysteries.
Find at your local library.
Time Stops for No Mouse
by: Michael Hoeye - (Putnam, 2002) 279 pages.
Hermux is a watchmaker who also happens to be a mouse. He is mostly content with his life of order and quiet nights curled up with some cheese and a good book, but that all changes when one Linka Perflinger, aviatrix and daredevil, enters and mysteriously exits the picture.
Perfect for: Kids who like mysteries.
Find at your local library.