For Kids

It’s a Mystery to Me

By on July 24, 2026   /   Articles, Book Lists, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers   /   Leave a comment

As a kid, my summers were spent hanging out at the library reading Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. I loved a good mystery, and not much has changed in that department.

With summer reading in full swing, I’ve picked six of my favorite middle grade mysteries to share. They weren’t around when I was a kid, but discovering them as an adult was just as magical. Reading them satisfied the mystery-loving kid in me and reminded me why I fell in love with the genre in the first place. Each one is packed with clever clues, memorable characters, page-turning suspense, and the challenge of solving the mystery before the final reveal.

I hope one of these mysteries piques your interest, sparks your inner detective, and keeps you guessing until the very last page.

Happy sleuthing!

THE SECRET FILES OF FAIRDAY MORROW by Stephanie Robinson & Jessica Haight  

Fans of classic detective stories, The Mysterious Benedict Society, and the Secret Series will devour this illustrated middle-grade adventure that follows three curious sleuths as they investigate a mysterious, old house with some hidden secrets.

Eleven-year-old Fairday Morrow is less than thrilled that her family is moving thousands of miles from civilization to the quiet country town of Ashpot, Connecticut, where she’s absolutely certain she’ll die of boredom.

Book cover of The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow As if leaving New York City and her best friend, Lizzy, the only other member of the elite Detective Mystery Squad (DMS), weren’t bad enough, Fairday is stuck living in the infamous Begonia House, a creepy old Victorian with dark passageways, a gigantic dead willow tree, and a mysterious past.

Before she can even unpack, strange music coming from behind a padlocked door leads Fairday up a spiral staircase and into a secret room, where an ancient mirror, a brass key, and a strange picture of a red-haired lady are the first in a series of clues that takes the members of the Detective Mystery Squad on an amazing adventure.

THE FRAME-UP by Wendy McLeod MacKnight

When Sargent Singer discovers that the paintings in his father’s gallery are alive, he’s pulled into a captivating world behind the frame he never knew existed.

When Sargent Singer discovers that the paintings in his father’s gallery are alive, he is pulled into a captivating world behind the frame that he never knew existed.

Filled with shady characters, devious plots, and a grand art heist, this inventive mystery-adventure celebrates art and artists and is perfect for fans of Night at the Museum and Blue Balliett’s Chasing Vermeer.
Book cover of The Frame up!
There’s one important rule at the Beaverbrook Gallery—don’t let anyone know the paintings are alive. Mona Dunn, forever frozen at thirteen when her portrait was painted by William Orpen, has just broken that rule. Luckily twelve-year-old Sargent Singer, an aspiring artist himself, is more interested in learning about the vast and intriguing world behind the frame than he is in sharing her secret.

And when Mona and Sargent suspect shady dealings are happening behind the scenes at the gallery, they set out to find the culprit. They must find a way to save the gallery—and each other—before they are lost forever.

THE TONTINE CAPER by Dianne Salerni

Clue meets Knives Out for the younger set in this twisty-turny middle grade mystery-comedy with dry humor, impeccable plotting, and fun interactive bonus content.

Eleven-year-old orphan Nico Lombardi has been unfairly indentured at a remote mountain inn for five years now.

Just as he gathers the courage to escape, the inn gets booked by the remaining members of a “tontine,” an investment scheme where a cash prize is awarded to whomever lives the longest. In other words, every guest wants access to the fortune. Preferably as soon as possible.book cover of The Tontine Caper

During their stay, a chaotic race to control the fate of the tontine takes over the normally sleepy inn. Nico watches in horror as a series of comically disastrous events unfolds—some of which might aid his escape, and some of which might get him in big trouble. Before he can even put the right clues together, three unexpected revelations change the course of everyone’s future!

Arch humor and an incredible cast of strange and calculating characters keep the pages turning in this Wes Anderson-esque mystery filled with funny mishaps and misunderstandings.

THE CASSETTE TAPE SECRET by Danielle Herzog 

Written by a lifelong educator, The Cassette Tape Secret addresses sensitive subjects with a light touch as middle-grade readers solve a mystery alongside characters who are finding their place in a world that might not easily understand them.

Thirteen-year-old Alex Bennett is used to being overlooked by his classmates. From being bullied due to his OCD, he’s learned that being invisible is the safest option. So he’s unprepared when the new girl, Ida May, requests to partner with him on a school project. And he is even more unprepared when the project she wants to work on reveals a mysterious message left on a cassette tape—one that leads the pair to a box buried in Alex’s front yard.The Cassette Tape Secret

Soon, Alex finds himself knee-deep in a mystery he wanted no part of. Urged on by his therapist and Ida May, he’s forced to step out of his carefully created comfort zone to untangle the complicated history he and Ida May have uncovered. But the more time Alex spends with Ida May, the more he wonders if the friendship growing between them is real or if she’ll leave as soon as the mystery is solved. As he and Ida May close in on the answers they’ve been searching for, Alex begins to understand that not everything is as it seems on the surface, and that maybe he doesn’t have to hide his OCD—or himself—from the world.

THE CURIOUS CAT SPY CLUB by Linda Joy Singleton

No one at school knows that Kelsy, Becca, and Leo are secretly friends. They have nothing in common―until they rescue three kittens and form a club to help animals through volunteering, spying, and solving mysteries.Curious Cat Spy Club

Kelsey helps catch a runaway zorse (horse + zebra) with the help of the nicest and most popular girl in school, Becca. The two are walking home when they happen upon a litter of kittens trapped in a dumpster and Leo is the only person around who can help get them out. The three unlikely friends decide to work together to help solve animal crimes with their secret club.

FLIP TURNS by Catherine Arguelles

2023 Moonbeam Awards Silver Medalist (Pre-Teen Fiction – Mystery)

Thirteen-year-old Maddie just wants her classmate Lucas to leave her alone. He keeps asking her out—as if she hasn’t already said no a thousand times! Focusing on her competitive swim team, the Electric Eels, Maddie tries to ignore him, hoping he’ll stop harassing her.
Flip Turns
But then, when someone starts sabotaging Maddie’s family-owned pool—glass on the deck, ketchup in the pool, followed by a “code brown”—Maddie worries it’s her “admirer” trying to get even. After Maddie’s parents rule the problems at the pool just harmless pranks, Maddie and her best friend, Ez, decide to investigate on their own. Could it be Lucas? And how can Maddie get him to leave her alone once and for all? The future of the Electric Eels and Maddie’s family legacy are on the line.

If you discover a new favorite, don’t forget to tell a friend and leave a review. Word of mouth is one of the best gifts you can give an author.

Enjoy!

Lisa

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The Book Called to Me…Again

By on June 26, 2026   /   Articles, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, For Writers  

I have this thing for rereading books. I like to revisit favorite titles and try to get at least a five-year interval to have another read. The Power of the Reread is a post I wrote a few years ago. The post is about the continuation of the philosophy first heard from Dr. Rachel Schmidt, Professor Emerita of Classics and Religion at the University of Calgary and is still a great source of joy in my reading life. The space and time between readings through older and questionably wiser eyes almost always gives me a new insight into the story.

For the past year, I’ve been into drawing birds. It started as a project I’m working on that grew out of our bird feeder hobby developed during the pandemic. The bird-drawing obsession might be the reason why, whenever I walked past my office bookshelves this spring, one book called out to me, demanding a reread.

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt

 

 

Okay for Now kept calling, and around Memorial Day, I finally listened. I began to read it for at least the third time. Doug Swiateck and his struggles, failures, and successes in his new home of “stupid” Marysville, New York, captured me once again in this National Book Award finalist from 2011. In no time at all, I was delivering groceries in the Spicer’s Deli wagon alongside Doug, navigating a tenuous home life in The Dump, and spending hours studying and drawing from the Marysville Free Library’s display copy of John James Audubon’s The Birds of America under the guidance of library volunteer Mr. Powell. It was a fantastic ride, and I was reminded of two things:

  • Gary D. Schmidt is a master of his craft.
  • Okay for Now is a masterpiece. 

I highly recommend reading it if you have yet to discover this title. 

After finishing Okay for Now, I turned to one of my online library accounts for Okay for Now’s 2007 predecessor, The Wednesday Wars, winner of a Newbery Honor. Holling Hoodhood hilariously navigates school, home, and relationship issues after being forced to study Shakespeare by Mrs. Baker, a teacher who “hates” him. He must endure this horrific duty during his Wednesday afternoon alone time with Mrs. Baker because he is a Presbyterian outcast who must stay while everyone else attends their Catholic or Jewish schools for the afternoon.

These two books… My God, they are good! Shakespeare and Audubon were used as foundations to build two near-perfect works of middle-grade historical fiction. 

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After finishing The Wednesday Wars, the inspiration hit to keep on a Gary D. Schmidt reading streak, so I returned to the online libraries. While trying to decide between Orbiting Jupiter, The Labors of Hercules Beal, and Pay Attention Carter Jones for the next reread, I ran across a new-to-me title, 2021’s Just Like That. I clicked the cover and read the description. Another Gary D. Schmidt book set in late 1960s New York with a main character named Mary Lee Kowalski. Wait! Mary Lee Kowalski from The Wednesday Wars has her own book? Who knew? Not this guy!

I clicked “BORROW” and started reading. My heart was torn open in the first few pages. If you’ve read Just Like That, you know what I’m talking about. If you have not, put it on your TBR list behind The Wednesday Wars and Okay for Now. Once again, Gary D. Schmidt has me hooked and I’m reading as fast as I can between summer ball games, swim meets, garden/yard work, etc.

 

 

My conclusion from this Gary D. Schmidt revisit experience, beyond a reminder of the skill put on the page by one fantastic middle-grade author? 

Read an old book. Read a classic. Reread a book you love. Read for the different perspective time and maturity bring. Read for the magic it creates. Read now because summer reading is some of the best reading there is. 

The take-home message? When a book beckons, just as Doug Swiateck and the Arctic Tern called out to me, listen. Accept the literary summons and start reading because you never know in what fantastic directions that book might lead you.

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Summer Dreaming and Writing Poems

By on June 18, 2026   /   For Kids, For Writers  
Hot days, cold poems
Let’s capture “aha” moments
Lazy summer days
               — Ann Angel

 

Summer days are meant for daydreaming on beach blankets, sitting on porches lost in a great piece of fiction, and writing about this very moment we’re in. It’s a great time to pull out a journal and create a poem that captures these special moments. Poetry seems to fit the lazy timeless summer experience and allows writers to capture the thunderstorms that feed our gardens even as they shake us to our toes, or paint the experience of hot sun on our faces, popsicle juice dripping down our hands, and even the moment we dip our faces into clover or lavender and breathe deeply.

But where to start? There are some iconic how-to books including Mary Oliver’s A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry.   While this book tends to be a bit dense, there are a few books that speak directly to middle graders. Poetry Play by Amanda Shackelford uses rhyme to encourage writers to play with their experiences.

 

by JoAnn Early Macken

One of my personal favorites that speaks directly to writers in clear language is JoAnn Early Macken’s Write A Poem Step-by-Step. This how-to walks writers through idea generation to revision.

 

 

 

Giggle-Worthy Poetry Prompts for Kids by Mike Downs and Sandra Athans offers writers six poetic forms and suggests easy ways to generate poems.  Writers might use their own names to create acrostic poems, use free flowing ideas like “Purple Pickles” for free verse poems, or create concrete forms from surroundings (think a star-shaped poem about a star or back to lavender, consider that shape in simply describing this plant).

In thinking about writing poetry on timeless summer days, I’d recommend picking up a classic collection that also teaches style such as A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms illustrated by Chris Raschka with poems selected by Paul Janeczeko.

Over 25 poetic forms and examples are provided. (This is the most borrowed book from my personal university library and the one book that I keep having to replace because students forget to return it. I don’t mind because they end up writing a variety of amazing poems).

Of course a summer library visit to choose poetry by Robert Frost, Mary Oliver, Amanda Gorman, and Eve Miriam who offers us the opportunity to bite into poetry with her poem, “How to Eat a Poem” or seeking pictures books by JoAnn Macken, or the above authors of How-to books, mentioned above, as well as so many other favorite picture book writers who write in a variety of verse styles and provide hours of learning enjoyment even as the poems will tickle our spirits and help us lose our creative hearts in our own writing.

Here are a few more possible writing prompts:

  • Look around you. What color is your world?
  • Study a blade of grass and look so closely you can see an ant wandering through that jungle, or find cracks in the dirt below. Describe it in a haiku (3 lines, 5 syllables, 7 syllable, 5 syllables).
  • Write about how timeless summer feels, using free verse let metaphors for timelessness flow.
  • Consider a more difficult poem like a sestina which requires you to find 6 words that will be ending words that change order to create a 36 line poem. To find the words, look around you and select a few nouns, some verbs, and possible adjectives and adverbs.
  • Make a list of the best things about summer.
  • Write a concrete poem about the last thing you ate.
  • Write a persona poem.
  • Style copy a classic poem or respond to a classic poem. For example, Mary Oliver’s poem, “At Blackwater Pond” tells the story of the poet’s sensory experiences at this pond. There’s a frog in this poem and I wrote a poem from the frog’s viewpoint. Here’s that response:
A Frog At Blackwater Pond
In Blackwater Pond the lily pads tremble
throughout this night of rain.
I absorb water through green skin. I breathe
oxygen and moisture. The excess slides
down my slimy back and puddles
on the leaf pad. I hear the drumming
of drops, spattering,
insistent reminders that this beautiful
water is my life force.
— Ann Angel

Explore your summer world and see if you can fill a journal with this summer’s “aha” moments. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

 

 

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