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Top Mysteries for Youth (Booklist May 1, 2022)
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Drew Leclair Gets a Clue by Katryn BuryISBN: 9780358639602
Publication Date: 2022-03-01
A modern take on Harriet the Spy , twelve-year-old Drew uses her true crime expertise to catch the cyberbully in her school--only to discover that family, friendship, and identity are the hardest mysteries to solve. Grade 5-8
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The Ghoul of Windydown Vale by Jake BurtISBN: 9781250236579
Publication Date: 2022-01-25
opper Inskeep holds Windydown Vale's deepest and darkest secret: he is the ghoul that haunts the Vale, donning a gruesome costume to scare travelers and townsfolk away from the dangers of the surrounding swamps. When a terrified girl claims she and her father were attacked by a creature - one that could not have been Copper - it threatens not just Copper's secret, but the fate of all Windydown. Grade 5-8
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The Pear Affair by Judith Eagle; Jo Rioux (Illustrator)ISBN: 9781536217032
Publication Date: 2022-06-14
Penelope Magnificent spends as little time as possible with her awful parents--a grocery-mogul father and a fashion-obsessed mother who loves expensive purses more than she does her daughter. But when they mention an important trip to Paris, Nell begs to come along. Paris holds something very dear to her: her old au pair Perrine--Pear--who lives there. Pear used to write to Nell every week, promising to come to her rescue, but recently the letters stopped. With the help of a savvy bellboy named Xavier, Nell sets out from her parents' ultra-fancy Parisian hotel to find her beloved Pear. But Pear's old neighbors and coworkers are strangely tight-lipped. And as Nell's search for the truth takes her and Xavier to some of the darkest, most mysterious parts of the city, a sinister plot comes to light involving the destruction of a cherished--and delicious--part of Parisian life. Grade 4-7
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Shirley and Jamila's Big Fall by Gillian GoerzISBN: 9780525552895
Publication Date: 2021-12-14
Starting a new school in the fall with her friend Shirley, everything is going well for Jamila until Shirley pulls her into a new assignment: stop Chuck Milton, a school bully who's using blackmail and intimidation to become school president--an assignment that will involve a bit of breaking and entering. Grade 4-7
Mystery
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Drew Leclair Gets a Clue by Katryn BuryISBN: 9780358639602
Publication Date: 2022-03-01
A modern take on Harriet the Spy , twelve-year-old Drew uses her true crime expertise to catch the cyberbully in her school--only to discover that family, friendship, and identity are the hardest mysteries to solve. Grade 5-8
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Frankie and Bug by Gayle FormanISBN: 9781534482531
Publication Date: 2021-10-12
n the summer of 1987 in Venice, California, ten-year-old Bug and her new friend Frankie learn important lessons about life, family, being your true self, and how to navigate in a world that is not always just or fair. Grade 4-7 (Lexile: 700)
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Linked by Gordon KormanISBN: 1338629115
Publication Date: 2021-07-20
Link, Michael, and Dana live in a quiet town. But it's woken up very quickly when someone sneaks into school and vandalizes it with a swastika. Nobody can believe it. How could such a symbol of hate end up in the middle of their school? Who would do such a thing? Because Michael was the first person to see it, he's the first suspect. Because Link is one of the most popular guys in school, everyone's looking to him to figure it out. And because Dana's the only Jewish girl in the whole town, everyone's treating her more like an outsider than ever. The mystery deepens as more swastikas begin to appear. Some students decide to fight back and start a project to bring people together instead of dividing them further. The closer Link, Michael, and Dana get to the truth, the more there is to face-not just the crimes of the present, but the crimes of the past. Grade 5-8
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Long Lost by Jacqueline WestISBN: 9780062691750
Publication Date: 2021-05-18
Eleven-year-old Fiona has just read a book that doesn’t exist. When Fiona’s family moves to a new town to be closer to her older sister’s figure skating club—and far from Fiona’s close-knit group of friends—nobody seems to notice Fiona’s unhappiness. Alone and out of place, Fiona ventures to the town’s library, a rambling mansion donated by a long-dead heiress. And there she finds a gripping mystery novel about a small town, family secrets, and a tragic disappearance. Soon Fiona begins to notice strange similarities that blur the lines between the novel and her new town. With a little help from a few odd Lost Lake locals, Fiona uncovers the book’s strange history. Lost Lake is a town of restless spirits, and Fiona will learn that both help and danger come from unexpected places—maybe even from the sister she thinks doesn’t care about her anymore. Grade 4-7
Mystery with a Sprinkle of Fantasy
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The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly BarnhillISBN: 9781643750743
Publication Date: 2022-03-08
When a child goes missing from the Orphan House in the town of Stone-in-the-Glen, the mayor suggests the kindly Ogress is responsible, but the orphans do not believe that and try to make their deluded neighbors see the real villain among them. Grade 4-8
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Second Sleep by Diane StanleyISBN: 9780062658036
Publication Date: 2021-11-02
When Max and his sister Rose go to visit their grandmother's lakeside vacation home, they soon discover that their nightly sleeps bring them to a timelocked place with kids from all different eras, united by their love of the lake--and Max begins to wonder if they can help him to find his missing mother. Grade 4-7
How About a Little Cooking with Your Mystery
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Alice Fleck's Recipes for Disaster by Rachelle DelaneyISBN: 9780735269279
Publication Date: 2021-05-11
When Alice agreed to appear in a reality cooking show with her father, she had no idea she'd find herself in the middle of a mystery! Will Alice and her new friends be able to save the show? Grade 5-8 (Lexile: 670)
Do You Like Thriller and Suspense Books?
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Concealed by Christina Diaz GonzalezISBN: 9781338647204
Publication Date: 2021-10-19
Katrina doesn't know any of the details about her past, but she does know that she and her parents are part of the Witness Protection Program. Whenever her parents say they have to move on and start over, she takes on a new identity. A new name, a new hair color, a new story. Until their location leaks and her parents disappear. Forced to embark on a dangerous rescue mission, Katrina and her new friend Parker set out to save her parents--and find out the truth about her secret past and the people that want her family dead. But every new discovery reveals that Katrina's entire life has been built around secrets covered up with lies and that her parents were actually the ones keeping the biggest secret of all. Grade 3-7 (Lexile: 610)
Mystery Series to Read
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Tangled up in Luck by Merrill WyattISBN: 9781534495791
Publication Date: 2021-11-02
Seventh-graders Sloane and Amelia are devastated to be paired for a research project about long-lost jewels, but soon they are finding clues hidden for nearly a century--and realize they are being used. Grade 4-6
Mystery with Twists and Turns
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The Pear Affair by Judith Eagle; Jo Rioux (Illustrator)ISBN: 9781536217032
Publication Date: 2022-06-14
Penelope Magnificent spends as little time as possible with her awful parents--a grocery-mogul father and a fashion-obsessed mother who loves expensive purses more than she does her daughter. But when they mention an important trip to Paris, Nell begs to come along. Paris holds something very dear to her: her old au pair Perrine--Pear--who lives there. Pear used to write to Nell every week, promising to come to her rescue, but recently the letters stopped. With the help of a savvy bellboy named Xavier, Nell sets out from her parents' ultra-fancy Parisian hotel to find her beloved Pear. But Pear's old neighbors and coworkers are strangely tight-lipped. And as Nell's search for the truth takes her and Xavier to some of the darkest, most mysterious parts of the city, a sinister plot comes to light involving the destruction of a cherished--and delicious--part of Parisian life. Grade 4-7
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Tangled up in Luck by Merrill WyattISBN: 9781534495791
Publication Date: 2021-11-02
Seventh-graders Sloane and Amelia are devastated to be paired for a research project about long-lost jewels, but soon they are finding clues hidden for nearly a century--and realize they are being used. Grade 4-6
Mystery and Science Fiction, Oh My!
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Let the Monster Out by Chad LucasISBN: 9781419751264
Publication Date: 2022-05-17
Bones Malone feels like he can’t do anything right in his new small town: He almost punched the son of the woman who babysits him and his brothers, he’s one of the only Black kids in Langille, and now his baseball team (the one place where he really feels like he shines) just lost their first game. To make matters worse, things in town are getting weird. His mom isn’t acting like herself at all—she’s totally spaced out, almost like a zombie. And then he and his brothers have the same dream—one where they’re running from some of their deepest fears, like a bear and an eerie cracked mirror that Bones would rather soon forget. Kyle Specks feels like he can never say the right thing at the right time. He thinks he might be neurodivergent, but he hasn’t gotten an official diagnosis yet. His parents worry that the world might be too hard for him and try to protect him, but Kyle knows they can’t do that forever. Even though he’s scared, he can’t just stand by and do nothing while things in this town get stranger and stranger, especially not after he and Bones find a mysterious scientist’s journal that might hold answers about what’s going on. But when faced with seemingly impossible situations, a shady corporation, and their own worst nightmares, will Kyle and Bones be brave enough to admit they're scared? Or will the fear totally consume and control them? Grade 5-7
Ghost Stories Just For You
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The Ghoul of Windydown Vale by Jake BurtISBN: 9781250236579
Publication Date: 2022-01-25
opper Inskeep holds Windydown Vale's deepest and darkest secret: he is the ghoul that haunts the Vale, donning a gruesome costume to scare travelers and townsfolk away from the dangers of the surrounding swamps. When a terrified girl claims she and her father were attacked by a creature - one that could not have been Copper - it threatens not just Copper's secret, but the fate of all Windydown. Grade 5-8
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Long Lost by Jacqueline WestISBN: 9780062691750
Publication Date: 2021-05-18
Eleven-year-old Fiona has just read a book that doesn’t exist.
When Fiona’s family moves to a new town to be closer to her older sister’s figure skating club—and far from Fiona’s close-knit group of friends—nobody seems to notice Fiona’s unhappiness. Alone and out of place, Fiona ventures to the town’s library, a rambling mansion donated by a long-dead heiress. And there she finds a gripping mystery novel about a small town, family secrets, and a tragic disappearance.
Soon Fiona begins to notice strange similarities that blur the lines between the novel and her new town. With a little help from a few odd Lost Lake locals, Fiona uncovers the book’s strange history. Lost Lake is a town of restless spirits, and Fiona will learn that both help and danger come from unexpected places—maybe even from the sister she thinks doesn’t care about her anymore. Grade 4-7
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Ophie's Ghosts by Justina IrelandISBN: 0062915894
Publication Date: 2021-05-18
Ophelia Harrison used to live in a small house in the Georgia countryside. But that was before the night in November 1922, and the cruel act that took her home and her father from her--which was the same night that Ophie learned she can see ghosts. Now Ophie and her mother are living in Pittsburgh with relatives they barely know. In the hopes of earning enough money to get their own place, Mama has gotten Ophie a job as a maid in the same old manor house where she works. Daffodil Manor, like the wealthy Caruthers family who owns it, is haunted by memories and prejudices of the past--and, as Ophie discovers, ghosts as well. Grade 5-7
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Temple Alley Summer by Sachiko Kashiwaba; Avery Fischer Udagawa (Translator); Miho Satake (Illustrator)ISBN: 9781632063038
Publication Date: 2021-07-06
Kazu knows something odd is going on when he sees a girl in a white kimono sneak out of his house in the middle of the night―was he dreaming? Did he see a ghost? Things get even stranger when he shows up to school the next day to see the very same figure sitting in his classroom. No one else thinks it’s weird, and, even though Kazu doesn’t remember ever seeing her before, they all seem convinced that the ghost-girl Akari has been their friend for years!
When Kazu’s summer project to learn about Kimyo Temple draws the meddling attention of his mysterious neighbor Ms. Minakami and his secretive new classmate Akari, Kazu soon learns that not everything is as it seems in his hometown. Kazu discovers that Kimyo Temple is linked to a long forgotten legend about bringing the dead to life, which could explain Akari’s sudden appearance―is she a zombie or a ghost? Kazu and Akari join forces to find and protect the source of the temple's power. An unfinished story in a magazine from Akari’s youth might just hold the key to keeping Akari in the world of the living, and it’s up to them to find the story’s ending and solve the mystery as the adults around them conspire to stop them from finding the truth. Grade 3-7 (Lexile: 620)
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The Visitors by Greg HowardISBN: 9780593111888
Publication Date: 2022-02-01
When a group of kids explore a deserted, haunted plantation they befriend a young ghost and together uncover the dark secret of his past that led to his mysterious death. Grade 5-8
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What Lives in the Woods by Lindsay CurrieISBN: 9781728209753
Publication Date: 2021-09-14
Ginny is unhappy when her family moves from Chicago to upstate Michigan for the summer; her father has a job restoring a 1930s mansion, but there are rumors about Woodmoor and the forest next to it: rumors about strange mutant creatures; Ginny, an aspiring mystery writer, is soon half convinced that the rumors are true, because something or someone is haunting the house--and she plans to investigate, with the help of Will, the older boy who lives nearby. Grade 4-7 (590)