Great Mystery Books For Junior Age Readers

1) The Boxcar Children Series by Gertrude Chandler Warner:

This fun and creative mystery series features over a hundred titles that are tailored to please middle school readers. Book one, The Boxcar Children, introduces the four siblings, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden. The Alden children (along with their dog Watch) runaway after the death of their parents leaves them in the custody of their grandfather. Although they’ve never met their grandfather, the children have mistakenly come to believe that he’s a cruel, cold man who would be horrible to live with. As they try to survive on their own, the kids end up making a home out of an abandoned boxcar, which they furnish with items from the local dump. They perform odd jobs in the town for money and are getting along quite well until an illness strikes Violet. Of course, the moment of crisis leads to a meeting with their grandfather, the kind and wealthy Mr. Henry, who’s been advertising an impressive reward for anyone who may have information on their whereabouts.

2) The Three Investigators Series:

Whether it involves a haunted castle, a screaming clock, or a talking skull, Jupiter Jones, Bob Andrews, and Pete Crenshaw are always on the case in this series of books that has delighted over three generations of readers. In the series, the three boys are residents of Rocky Beach, a fictional California town that is supposed to be a dozen or so miles from Hollywood. Jupiter, the leader of the group, lives with his aunt and uncle who run the salvage yard where the boy’s secret headquarters are safely ensconced in a trailer among the acres of junk. Using discarded junk from the yard, the boy’s manage to outfit their “office” with such things as a telephone, a dark room, and a filing cabinet. Each of the investigators has a special skill that makes them invaluable to the team. Bob is the research expert, Pete is the athletic one, and Jupiter is the genius of deduction.

 3) Trixie Belden Series:

Young girls will especially delight in this series about a thirteen year-old super sleuth who tackles baffling, sometimes dangerous investigations. Mysterious incidents include everything from a headless horseman to a legendary sasquatch. In the series, Trixie lives in a fictional New York town in the Hudson River area with her parents and her three brothers, Brian, Mart, and Bobby. The first book, The Secret of the Mansion, introduces Trixie to Honey Wheeler, a lonely, rich girl around her own age whose family has just taken the Manor House next door to the Belden’s farm. Trixie and Honey are soon entangled in an intriguing mystery, the first of nearly forty they will solve in the long-lived series. The varied adventures show the girls discovering mysteries at school and home, as well as on vacation. Eventually, Trixie and Honey form a club with more friends and Trixie’s brothers called the Bob-Whites of the Glen.

4) Mystery In Old Quebec by Mary C. Jane:

This is one of the best for summer reading, filled with adventure, mystery, and suspense. Kids who love vacations or traveling or learning about other cultures will especially enjoy Jane’s vivid sense of setting. In the story, Mark and Kerry are two American kids who travel to Quebec with their father, who’s on a business trip. The amiable brother and sister are thrilled by the foreign surroundings, but stumble onto some puzzling and troubling circumstances at the cozy little inn their father chooses to stay at. The trouble starts when Kerry’s jacket disappears from the room, then mysteriously shows up again with a piece of paper that contains strange drawings and a message in French. And then, when Kerry thinks she hears someone crying at night in the room next door, the children start to wonder: is someone being held captive at the seemingly quaint inn? And is the message found in Kerry’s stolen jacket a plea from that person for help?

5) The Pink Motel by Carol Ryrie Brink:

The perfect book for a lazy summer vacation, The Pink Motel follows the adventures of three children whose widowed mother unexpectedly inherits a motel from a distant relative. For brother and sister Kirby and Bitsy Mellon, life couldn’t be more ordinary…or boring . But then, their mother’s great-granduncle Hiram dies and leaves her a motel in Florida. Life at the pink motel is anything but dull, with eccentric tenants who obsess about things like sun tans and pet poodles. More intriguing, however, are the two mystery men who seem to be on the hunt for Uncle Hiram’s secret hidden treasure.