I love a mystery and have spent many long hours reveling in the revelation of clues and blithely stepping over bodies in the library.
I got my start with Nancy Drew, the fearless amateur sleuth whose adventures I followed growing up. And I even managed to help solve a few mysteries with the Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe.
So I enjoyed reading the recommendations on the Huffington Post website by Jordan B. Neilson "The 15 Greatest Kid Detectives" (here).
The Great Cake Mystery (and we love cake!) features the young Precious Ramatswe's first case involving missing pastries from her school. Precious, who as an adult founded the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency is the creation of Alexander McCall Smith. She is one of my favorite detectives. Although this book is written for ages 5-7, it would be enjoyable to take a peek at how Mma Ramatswe got her start.
Others that sound amusing are:
Chasing Vermeer (ages 10-12) by Blue Balliett which has sixth graders Petra and Calder tracking down a missing painting by the artist. It promises puzzles and twists and even more clues included in the illustrations by Brett Helquist.
The Westing Game (ages 10-13) by Ellen Raskin is a 1979 Newbery Award winner and introduces Turtle Wexler as the solver of the riddle proposed by an eccentric millionaire.
There are also Lemony Snicket; the updated Nancy Drew Diaries; Cam Jansen and her photographic memory; the sharp-witted Red Blazer girls of St. Veronica's; and, two sisters who carry on the work of their descendants The Brothers Grimm, who, as it turns out, were detectives themselves. Who knew?
Any of these might be a nice change from adult sleuthing and I am pretty sure gore and guts will be missing. At least I would hope so.
It's nice to go back and relive those books, isn't it? I remember thinking that *nothing* worse could happen than to be tied up in a freezing ski cabin somewhere like Nancy. Ah, those innocent days!
ReplyDeleteNancy did get herself into some tight places, didn't she! What I love about the original ND books and also the adventures of the Hardy Boys is the language. So rich. I am going to give The Westing Game a try. It sounds intriguing.
DeleteI think these kinds of books are great for introducing reading to children. My older sister used to, very occasionally, read bits of Nancy Drew to me. The only reason I wanted to go to school was so I could learn to read and read Nancy Drew all by myself, whenever I wanted to! I prefer the original books to the re-writes, too. The newer ones lose a lot of the character and atmosphere of the older ones.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great motivation to wanting to read, Joan. Nancy would be happy to know you were such a fan of hers!
DeleteI recently browsed through a Hardy Boys mystery - one of the older ones - and was amazed at the richness of the language. Nothing like the newer ones.
I loved Nancy Drew, too, and still have a small collection of books from my childhood. (I wrote about them here: http://www.catchinghappiness.com/2012/03/i-blame-it-on-nancy.html.) I haven't read any of the books mentioned in the article, even to my son when he was younger. (Shame on me!) Phyllis A. Whitney also wrote a few mysteries for pre-teens/young teens that I remember enjoying.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post, Kathy. And how lucky that you still have some of the books found by your mom. They have quite a history! Yesterday, I checked out 'The Westing Game' from the library and will give it a try. I will let you know how it goes.
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