Skip to main content

Five Faves: Mysterious High-Low Intermediate Books

By
Intermediate Mystery books are a gold mine. High-low books refer to titles that are of high interest to readers, but contain low level vocabulary. These titles are clever, action-packed, and have several books in the series to keep the mystery alive. These intermediate mystery books are the first in their series and are sure to appease any mystery loving reader.

The Ghost Tree
Written by Natasha Deen
Illustrated by Lissy Marlin
New York: Random House Children's Books, 2022. Intermediate. 95 pages.

With a dash of paranormal mixed with mystery, this book introduces Asim, a Guyanese American fourth grader who moves to a new town. After a visit to a graveyard, an evil spirit is unleashed. Asim works with new friends, Rokshar and Max, to save their town. With scarily cool illustrations to accompany this text, this book is great for any amateur sleuths who love a touch of creepy.

Detective Duck: The Case of the Strange Splash
Written by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver
Illustrated by Dan Santat
New York: Amulet Books, 2023. Intermediate. 67 pages.

Readers who enjoy humor, a little mystery, and a lot of animals will love this detective book featuring Willow Feathers McBeaver, aka Detective Duck. Along with other animals, Detective Duck solves mysteries caused by human disruptions to their home. With full color pictures, this mystery is perfect for readers just beginning to read chapter books.

Written by Kayla Whaley
Illustrated by Chloe Burgett
New York: Random House, 2023. Intermediate. 80 pages.

In this revitalization of the classic A to Z Mysteries series, three kids, along with a dog, solve animal related mysteries. In the first book, Abbi, Lydia, and Daniel discover that all of the alpacas are missing from the Maine State Fair, except for one. As they look for clues, they may realize that detective work is more complicated than they initially thought. 

The Weird Sisters: A Note, a Goat, and a Casserole
Written by Mark David Smith
Illustrated by Kari Rust
Toronto, ON: Owlkids Books, 2022. Intermediate. 69 pages.

Three weird witch sisters, Hildegurp, Yuckmina, and Glubbifer set up a pet store. One day, a nine-year-old girl asks them for help in finding her lost pet goat. As the four of them set out to solve the mystery, they discover new friends, hilarious misunderstandings, and whimsical moments. This book highlights the conflicting hopes of wanting to fit in while desiring to be true to oneself. 

By Veronica Mang
New York: Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2021. Intermediate. 95 pages.

Three girls become super sleuths when they uncover a secret society of famous female spies in history. When one of the spies asks them for help in finding a missing cheetah, the girls must decide if they can become spies themselves.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: The Factory

By
The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Fowl Play

By
  Fowl Play By Kristin O'Donnell Tubb New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2024. Fiction 277 pages. Still reeling from her beloved uncle's death, Chloe Alvarez is comforted and confused when at his last will and testament reading, Uncle Will gifts her his African Grey parrot, Charlie. Charlie has a robust vocabulary and loves to make Alexa requests for her favorite songs, but when she starts saying things like, "homicide," and "cyanide," Chloe becomes convinced that Uncle Will may have met his demise by murder instead of a genetic disease, as was previously thought. Ultimately, bringing in her brother, Grammy, and Uncle Frank (and of course Charlie,) Chloe's ragtag and adoring family support her search for answers ---going on stakeouts, engaging in fast pursuits, and searching for clues. But as the suspects stack up and the mystery grows, Chole will learn that the process of death and grieving is complicated, and in the end her Uncle Will's words that, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry

By DeeDee
National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry Edited by J. Patrick Lewis National Geographic, 2012, 183 p. Poetry In this beautiful poetry collection, the National Children's Poet Laureate, J. Patrick Lewis, has teamed up with the amazing photographers at National Geographic. The result is 200 poems about animals, all illustrated with stunning nature photography.  The poems are well chosen and include rhyming, free verse, and shape poetry. Some of the poems are funny, many are contemplative and all are nicely typeset on top of the full color photographs. One of my favorites is a shape poem about flamingos, with a photograph of a flock of flamingos which seem to be standing the the shape of a flamingo (how did they do that?).  Lewis ends the collection with a brief but interesting section about writing animal poetry.  This selection is sure to turn any animal lover into a poetry lover.
Post a Comment
Read more