Mystery list for 6th grade

In the coming weeks, Ms. Iverson's 6th grade humanities class will be reading and reporting on mystery books. To help you out, here are a few of my own favorites as well as links to some online lists.

Down the Rabbit Hole: An Echo Falls Mystery by Peter Abrahams – This first book in the Echo Falls series follows 13-year-old Ingrid, cast as Alice in her town’s production of Alice in Wonderland, as she attempts to unravel a suspicious murder and the mysterious past of the play’s creepy director. Will the police chief find out Ingrid was lying about being at the scene of the crime? Will the murderer find out she was there? Read and find out!

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd – The late Siobhan Dowd created a memorable hero in Ted, a boy with Asperger’s Syndrome who uses his special way of seeing and thinking about the world to locate his missing cousin Salim just in the nick of time. The cliffhanger ending gets my heart racing even to this day!

Masterpiece by Elise Broach – Who says a boy and a bug can’t be friends? When Marvin the beetle and James the boy combine their talents they become an unstoppable force as they recover a valuable painting taken from the Metropolitan Museum of Art by a dastardly thief no one else suspects.

The Mystery of the Third Lucretia by Susan Runholt – International intrigue and adventure are the name of the game as two friends take off from school to go on a globetrotting quest to foil an international art forger in this first book in the Kari and Lucas series!

The Postcard by Tony Abbott – Here’s one for those who like their mysteries on the hardboiled side. Instead of hanging out with his best friend over summer break, Jason finds himself in hot, humid Florida, helping his dad clear out his deceased grandmother’s house. But a strange phone call, a series of postcards with clues and a cast of bizarre circus stars soon add up to more excitement than he thought boring St. Petersburg had to offer!

The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour by Michael D. Beil – New York City, watch out! These Catholic schoolgirls (plus their middle school English teacher and a certain very cute boy) are teaming up to find a valuable lost treasure – with sleepovers, math problems and their favorite coffee shop along the way. If you can’t have this group of girls as your best friends, reading this book is the next best thing!

Shakespeare’s Secret by Elise Broach – Sixth grader Hero (named by her Shakespeare-loving parents but not so thrilled about the teasing she gets for it) finds herself starting a new school, befriending the eccentric old lady next door – oh, and trying to find a missing diamond. It’s not just any old diamond, however. It’s one that might hold the secret to a centuries-old mystery surrounding Shakespeare’s true identity…

Websites with reading lists:

Mystery books from KCLS’s Teen Zone (please note: some of these are more appropriate for high school students)

Mysteries for Teens from Seattle Public Library (books recommended for middle school students are labelled "MS")

Ms. Simeon’s blog post for 5^th grades mystery & suspense book report