Mysteries and Thrillers, 6 books for ages 9-14
You’ll meet children ruled by an iron-fisted governess, an orphan who discovers magic, siblings who live in a museum, a boy who lives in a train station trying to find a connection to his father, a girl who receives mysterious notes from the future and a group of kids trying to solve a murder mystery in an antiques shop.
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The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
-Joan Aiken
In an alternative-history version of England during the reign of the (fictitious) King James III, Bonnie, Sylvia and Simon try to foil the plots of their detestable governess, Miss Slighcarp, who holds the household in an iron grip while Bonnie's parents are abroad.
The House With A Clock In Its Walls
-John Bellairs
Illustrated by Edward Gorey, a master of macabre, this sinister novel follows Lewis, an orphan who goes to live with his magician uncle in a house that holds a clock counting off the time until the end of the world. When Lewis accidentally raises the dead, he must stop the clock before it strikes for the last time.
From The Mixed-Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
-E.L. Konigsberg
When Claudia decides to run away from home, she knows any old place won't do, and so settles on the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She and her little brother, Jamie, move into the museum, sleeping in a 16th century bed and bathing in the fountain. While there, they uncover a tremendous secret.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
-Brian Selznick
In this magical novel written and illustrated by Brian Selznick, 12-year-old Hugo is an orphan, clock-keeper and petty thief living within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931. Before he died, his father left him a broken automaton, and Hugo labors to uncover the secret hidden inside the machine.
When You Reach Me
-Rebecca Stead
In the 1980s, as her mother prepares to be a contestant on a television game show, Miranda tries to make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from an anonymous source that seems to defy the laws of time and space.
The Egypt Game
-Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Melanie and April are fascinated by ancient Egypt and decide to play their own Egypt game in the storage yard of a mysterious professor's antique shop. But the imaginative game soon takes on a life of its own as the kids get entangled in a murder mystery. With illustrations by Alton Raible.
Heidi Y.