By Spencer Miller
As the Editorial Coordinator for the Top Grade: CanLit for the Classroom program, I read dozens of new books from Canadian publishers every season and help create blog and video content that highlights the best new titles. One of the most interesting parts of my work is making note of trends in publishing. Recently I’ve noticed a surge in detective and mystery stories. As mysteries are always popular with young readers, I’m happy to have some new books to recommend!
Here are three reasons I recommend detective and mystery stories for young readers:
- Mysteries encourage close reading and re-reading. Readers are required to pay close attention and read between the lines if they hope to spot clues, recognize red herrings, and solve the mystery alongside the detective.
- Mysteries teach readers to understand motivation. Any good detective knows that every crime has a motive. These stories challenge readers to make connections between the characters’ motivations and their actions.
- Mysteries are about righting wrongs. They show readers that when a person or community is harmed, stolen from or taken advantage of, that’s never the end of the story. In these stories, young detectives use courage and creative thinking to help others in need.
Mysteries can also give important context to social issues and challenges such as how author Michael Hutchinson explores issues surrounding Indigenous communities in the Mighty Muskrat Mystery Series.
To fuel your readers’ love for mysteries, here is a book list of new titles from Canadian publishers:
K-3 (Picture Books)
The Mango Monster (Owlkids Books) is a fun, imaginative, and tasty read that encourages sharing with others. After waiting all year for mango season, Marianne is excited that the mangoes on their tree are ripe and ready to eat. But when she and her sidekick cousin Zoe check out the tree, the lower branches have been picked clean. Someone is stealing their mangoes! Who could it be?
Highlight: Readers can search for the mango monster as it’s carefully hidden in the background of each spread.
K-3 (Chapter Books)
Bee & Flea and the Fall Fiasco (Owlkids Books) is the third and final adventure of the intrepid crime-solving pair. In this story, Bee and Flea solve the mystery of how the backyard critters adapt and prepare for winter.
Highlight: This humorous series is full of STEM content!
Lark Wraps It Up (Orca Book Publishers) is the eighth book in Natasha Deen’s beloved detective series. In this story, Lark and Connor are ready for a sunny day at the splash pad when their halmoni (grandmother) gets a call from her friend Miss June. Miss June’s handmade quilt has been stolen right from her backyard—and on the day of the quilt show!
Highlight: Lark is a positive example of a character with dyslexia. And each book in the series contains new vocab words Lark is learning.
In Mystery at the Biltmore: The Vanderhoff Heist (Pajama Press), Elodie LaRue’s been left behind by her globe-trotting detective parents, again. Elodie decides to prove she’s worthy of joining them on a case by setting up her own detective agency at her renowned Upper West Side home, The Biltmore.
Highlight: The Biltmore is a fabulous setting readers will be excited to return to in Book 2.
4-6
In Danica de la Torre, Certified Sleuth (Annick Press), Danica and her partner Jack have competition when another kid detective named Kennedy moves in across the street. When Kennedy becomes convinced his house is haunted, Danica and Jack are hesitant to team up on the case, especially because Danica’s tita has forbidden her from meddling with the spirit realm.
Highlight: The paranormal elements and supernatural twists add a layer of excitement to the first book in this new series.
Izzy Wong’s Nose for News (Orca Book Publishers) follows aspiring journalist Izzy Wong, a sixth-grader with her own investigative podcast. When the girls’ washroom at her school mysteriously floods, it doesn’t take long to figure out that a student did it on purpose — but who? Izzy sets out on an investigation to find the culprit.
Highlight: As Izzy unravels the mystery she confronts difficult questions about news, media bias, and ethical reporting.
The Rehearsal Club (Groundwood Books) is a decades-spanning mystery with themes of sisterhood, friendship and following your dreams under marquee lights. The story follows twelve-year-old Pal Gallagher as she is swept up in the glamour and high-stakes of the theatre world and is drawn into a mystery at the Rehearsal Club, a historic boarding house for aspiring actresses.
Highlight: The back-and-forth chapters between 1954 and the present.
In Year of the Carrot (Second Story Press), a series of events leads Leonie Macgregor to suspect someone is after her dad’s one-of-a-kind carrot seeds. Even though she has lots of things to do on the farm—like fixing her super awesome dirt bike — it’s up to her to save her dad’s carrots!
Highlight: The detailed farm setting — readers will easily picture themselves alongside Leonie. Also, they’ll learn a lot about carrots!
7-10
If We Tell You (Kids Can Press) is a highly suspenseful coming-of-age story with a deadly twist. Cameron and Lewis Larsen are identical twins living normal, suburban lives … until their mom and dad kill two uninvited guests at a neighbourhood barbecue and then disappear. Following cryptic instructions their parents left behind, the twins travel to Edinburgh in search of answers.
Highlight: Definition of a page-turner.
11-12
An Unbalanced Force (Cormorant Books) is a suspenseful young adult novel featuring a cat-and-mouse mystery. Living in a gated community in Ottawa, teenager Ethan Granger suspects his father is lying to him about his business. Ethan hires a private investigator to help him uncover the truth. But can he outsmart his own father?
Highlight: Challenging moments of moral greyness.
The Center of the Universe (Kids Can Press) is a smart and relatable family-driven mystery novel for young adults. The story follows high schooler Grace Carter, an aspiring astrophysicist, as she picks up the pieces after the disappearance of her celebrity news anchor mother. Was her mom abducted … or did she leave? And if she left, why?
Highlight: Facts about astronomy and astrophysics are seamlessly woven into the story.
Spencer Miller (he/him) is a teacher, writer, reader and basketball fan. He advocates for Canadian books in the classroom as the Editorial Coordinator of Top Grade: CanLit for the Classroom, a program of the Association of Canadian Publishers. You can follow more of Spencer’s passion for books on Instagram @SpencerBMiller.