mystery book suggestions...

[meemee]

for a 7 year old reading at a 7th grade level.

she has always loved mysteries. at the bookstores i see the bookshelves filled mostly with fantasy.

the only ones i can think of are hardy boys and nancy drews. and enid blyton's which she is not interested in.

she wants mystery in a real world setting - not the fantasy world.

any suggestions?

[sapphire_chan]

Agatha Christie? The Thomas and Tuppence books are pretty simple and none of her stuff has much swearing or the like. I was reading Miss Marple by 7th grade, so it should be at your dd's level.

Ooo, that Sweetness at the Bottom of Pie book has a 11 year old as the main character.

"Cozy" adult mysteries should, in general, avoid the sort of tough guy stuff that can make some adult mystery novels be too much for a 7 year old.

Okay, looking at a list of books defined as being grade 7 reading, she'll definitely be able to handle Agatha Christie and she's a good deal less scary than some of the books for kids (like John Bellairs? Creepy.)

[sapphire_chan]

Oh, and if she likes real life stuff, even though these aren't mysteries, I'd recommend looking into some daily life books. My personal favorite is D.E. Stevenson who writes books about nice people being kind to one another and they still manage to be interesting.

[rainyday]

What about the Joan Hess books? They're for adults, but I recall them being pretty tame. There's also always a lot of interesting vocabulary sprinkled throughout. They're pretty corny, though I don't know how much of that would go over her head.

[rainyday]

Or for kids - Trixie Belden?

[Amaranth]

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

and The Westing Game

and The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages

[meemee]

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan

Oh, and if she likes real life stuff, even though these aren't mysteries, I'd recommend looking into some daily life books. My personal favorite is D.E. Stevenson who writes books about nice people being kind to one another and they still manage to be interesting.

biogs and autobiogs are my favourite kinda books. so dd has had an exposure to a variety of people including her favourite authors. unfortunately if its overly kind or sweet she hates them. even as a two year old she would not tolerate any books on friends or too much of a moralistic story.

i guess she is more of an action girl.

i have not read any stevenson so might try that.

thanks for all the suggestions. they are all new to me.

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by rainyday

Or for kids - Trixie Belden?

I was thinking and thinking and not coming up with those.

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by meemee

biogs and autobiogs are my favourite kinda books. so dd has had an exposure to a variety of people including her favourite authors. unfortunately if its overly kind or sweet she hates them. even as a two year old she would not tolerate any books on friends or too much of a moralistic story.

i guess she is more of an action girl.

i have not read any stevenson so might try that.

thanks for all the suggestions. they are all new to me.

They aren't really morally, but they don't have much action either. The first one, "Mrs. Tim Christie" is actually based off the author's own diary, so you'll probably enjoy it.

Trixie Belden, otoh, has lots of action and excitement while still having real characters.

[ollyoxenfree]

Peter Abrahams' Echo Falls series. The first one is Down the Rabbit Hole. The protagonist is a 12 or 13 y.o. girl who loves soccer and lives in a small town. The only hesitation I have in recommending it for a 7 y.o. is that it starts out with a murder, so it may be a little too intense.

[christinar]

Originally Posted by Amaranth

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

and The Westing Game

and The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages

I totally second the first two! What about the Mysterious Benedict society triology? A Wrinkle in Time is fantasy but has mystery in it too, as do many of the books L'Engle wrote. Also the Egypt Game.

[neptunemama]

I suggested the Alex Rider series by Horowitz in another thread on here. The books are about a 14 yr old boy spy w/MI6. They have some killing so if that's too scary then skip them. The killing isn't graphically described, but it's not alluded to either. In one book a man gets shot in the head for example. The setting is modern times.

I second The Mysterious Benedict Society books. Very good.

[ohiomama]

Maybe Dick Francis- it has been awhile since I read any of them but I don't recall them being too gruesome or grown up- they almost all involve horses, incase that is an interest of hers.

[mammastar2]

Originally Posted by ohiomama

Maybe Dick Francis- it has been awhile since I read any of them but I don't recall them being too gruesome or grown up- they almost all involve horses, incase that is an interest of hers.

I was reading them in junior high, but content-wise they'd definitely be too 'adult' (sex and violence) for a 7 year old, I would think.

What about the Kiki Strike books? Here's one:

http://www.amazon.com/Kiki-Strike-In.../dp/1582349606

These Theodosia books look good too, although I'm not familiar with them:

http://www.amazon.com/Theodosia-Serp...ref=pd_sim_b_2

Caroline Lawrence's Roman Mysteries series is popular as well:

http://www.amazon.com/Roman-Mysterie.../dp/0142401471