Skip to main content

Five Faves: Mysteries for Younger

October is a great time to read a mystery! These picture book mysteries are the perfect way to introduce young readers to the genre, just in time for spooky season.

Written by Josh Funk
Illustrated by Brendan Kearney
New York: Union Square Kids, 2022. Picture Book.

Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast wake up one day to find that the Great Light in the refrigerator is missing! As they trace the light to Las Veggies, Pancake and French Toast must enlist all their friends to retrieve the bulb from Caper and his vegetable henchmen!

Written Josh Crute
Illustrated by Jenn Harney
Salem, MA: Page Street Kids, 2021. Picture Book.

When Deer wakes up and realizes that one of his antlers has been stolen and replaced with a tennis racquet, he panics! Racing around to his friends in the woods, they each realize in turn that they have all been hornswoggled, bamboozled, skunked! Wacky words are used and defined as the animals try to solve the mystery of the missing items. 

Written by Eddie Muller and Jessica Schmidt
Illustrated by Forrest Burdett
Philadelphia, PA: Running Press Kids, 2023. Picture Book.

When hard-boiled private investigator Kitty Feral's partner Mitch the Mutt goes missing, the cat faces dead end after dead end. Deciding to take on a second, potentially connected case of a missing candy shipment, Kitty interrogates the "usual suspects" to get to the bottom of the disappearances and save Mitch and the candy from the bandits. The case gives young readers an introduction to noir and detective fiction tropes and vocabulary, and an afterword gives more information on the noir genre's origins.

By Albert ArrayƔs
Boisbriand, Quebec: CrackBoom! Books, 2021. Picture Book.

Chickens are beloved and revered in Chickentown, and every year the hens compete for the Golden Feather award for the best hen of the year. A few days before the competition, hens start disappearing mysteriously, with a set of clues pointing to the culprit. The local witch and her hen set out to find the kidnapper, though it may not be who you expect!

By Christie Matheson
Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2024. Picture Book.

In this fall mystery, when a group of mice goes missing, the squirrels in the forest set out to figure out what happened to them! As each successive group of animals appears and is investigated, they are introduced with the collective noun for that animal.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

If You Like...KPop Demon Hunters

KPop Demon Hunters has been one of the most talked-about movies of the summer. If you loved this movie as much as I did, you don't want the magic (or the music) to stop. Try reading these books that touch on some of the same topics and themes as the animated hit! Brick Dust and Bones By M. R. Fournet New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2023. Fiction. 247 pages. Orphaned Marius works in the family business--as their cemetery's ghost caretaker. However, Marius also moonlights as a monster hunter in order to earn the costly Mystic currency he needs to bring his mother back from the dead. As the window to bring his mother back begins to close, Marius's exploits get more and more dangerous, and he may have set his sights on a monster too big to handle on his own. Like Mira, Marius longs for familial connection, and his work as a monster hunter will satisfy the thrill of demon hunting for fans the movie. Where's Halmoni? By Julie J. Kim Seattle, WA: Little Bigfoot, 2017. Comics. W...

From Story Time: The Letter "F"

Preschool Time Frank and Bert By Chris Naylor-Ballesteros Lincoln, MA: Nosy Crow, 2023. Picture Book. This laugh-out-loud picture book follows best friends Frank and Bert as they play hide-and-seek, but when Bert isn't so good at hiding (despite thinking he is), Frank must decide between winning or making Bert happy. --Editor Preschool Time All at Once Upon a Time Written by Mara Rockliff Illustrated by Gladys Jose New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2024. Picture Book. Fairy Tale land experiences a topsy-turvy transformation where classic stories become mixed up and makes Prince Charming climb a beanstalk, Cinderella kiss a frog, and Rapunzel's nose grow every time she tells a lie. --Editor Toddler Time Sometimes I Am Furious Written by Timothy Knapman Illustrated by Joe Berger New York: Penguin Workshop, 2023. Picture Book In rhyming text, a small girl admits she sometimes gets angry when she is frustrated, and her grandmother shows her how to cope. --Editor Book Babie...

Display: Golden

The Bakery Dragon By Devin Elle Kurtz New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2024. Picture book. Ember, a small dragon with an unimpressive roar, fears he will never be as good at stealing gold as other dragons, but discovers a different path to joy after a chance encounter with a baker.--Editor Sona and the Golden Beasts By Raani LaRocca New York: Quill Tree Books, 2024. Fiction. 385 pgs. Discovering an orphaned wolf pup she believes is related to the five sacred beasts of Devia, which a Hunter has been killing one by one, Sona embarks on an epic adventure during which she realizes that the fate of the sacred beasts, and the future of Devia, is in her hands. --Publisher Gold and Silver, Silver and Gold By Alvin Schwartz New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009. Informational. 128 pgs. Presents legends, true stories, and tall tales about the hunting, finding, and losing of treasure, including pirate treasure and treasure not yet uncovered.--Editor Golden Girl By Reem Faruqi New York: Harper, 202...