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Middle Grade Stories as Games

Does your middle grader like puzzles and games? Sometimes life can be a big puzzle, too. Read these books and see if you can solve the puzzle or play the game. Is winning really the end?

Sno-Isle Libraries

22 items

  • When nonbinary twelve-year-old Perigee tries to reunite their dad with his estranged mother, they end up facing off against their grandmother's mysterious sentient "puzzle house," which has a dangerous agenda all its own.
    Book, 2024New York : Henry Holt and Company, [2024] — J REESE
  • The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance.
    Book, 2003New York : Dutton Children's Books, 2003. — J RASKIN
  • The five Pathfinders search for the legendary Windrose treasure by solving puzzles in the mysterious caverns beneath the town
    Graphic Novel, 2021New York : Viking, 2021. — J SEDITA
  • Eleven-year-old Gina Sparks, aspiring journalist, and her fellow GEEKs, Edgar, Elena, and Kevin, live in a small town in serious danger of vanishing completely--unless the four friends can find the Van Houten fortune, which was supposedly promised…
    Book, 2022New York : Random House Children's Books, [2022] — J JAGGER
  • Twelve-year-old Kyle gets to stay overnight in the new town library, designed by his hero (the famous gamemaker Luigi Lemoncello), with other students but finds that come morning he must work with friends to solve puzzles in order to escape.
    Book, 2013New York : Random House, [2013] — J GRABENS
  • A thrilling middle grade fantasy about a girl who must participate in a deadly game with a ragtag team of players to save her grandfather from a terrible fate.
    Book, 2024New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2024. — J FAGAN
  • After passing a series of mind-bending tests, four children are selected for a secret mission that requires them to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules.
    Book, 2007New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2007. — J STEWART
  • Four adorable dogs are tail-waggingly excited to play their favorite role-playing game!
    Graphic Novel, 2024New York, NY : Feiwel and Friends, 2024. — J UNDERHI
  • Eleven-year-old Chester and his classmate Skye, tasked with a complex puzzle-solving mission, discover the key to their spy assignment is to stop a heist, but cracking the code could mean finding out things are not always what they seem.
    Book, 2022New York : Wendy Lamb Books, [2022] — J MAGOON
  • Elizabeth spend Christmas break at Winterhouse hotel where she discovers that she has magic and her love of puzzles helps to solve a mystery in this atmospheric tale.
    Book, 2018New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2018. — J GUTERSO
  • Legendary literary game-maker Garrison Griswold is back in action, this time with "Unlock the Rock." For his latest game, Griswold has partnered with the famous--and famously reclusive--mystery writer Errol Roy to plan an epic escape room challenge…
    Book, 2018New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2018. — J BERTMAN
  • Following a trail of puzzles, clues, and danger, Christopher and Tom try to uncover the truth behind a mysterious cult in this exciting historical fantasy.
    Book, 2015New York : Aladdin, 2015. — J SANDS
  • Summer, 1940. Nineteen-year-old Jakob Novis and his quirky younger sister Lizzie share a love of riddles and puzzles. And now they’re living inside of one. The quarrelsome siblings find themselves amidst one of the greatest secrets of World War…
    Book, 2024New York, New York : Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2024. — J SEPETYS
  • The Goblin's Puzzle

    Being the Adventures of a Boy With No Name and Two Girls Called Alice

    Chilton, Andrew S.,
    A boy, a goblin, a scholar, and a princess join forces to defeat a dragon, outwit a scheming duke, and solve a logic puzzle.
    Book, 2016New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2016. — J CHILTON
  • Twelve-year-old William Wenton is a code-breaking, puzzle-solving genius. Then a special exhibit comes to the local museum: the Impossible Puzzle. The experts say it is unsolvable, but William's sure that he can crack it if he gets a chance.…
    Book, 2017New York, New York : Aladdin, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, 2017. — J PEERS
  • Winston attends a weekend of puzzles at a famous musician's mansion, but when he and other young guests pursue a thief, they find themselves in big trouble. Puzzles for the reader to solve are included throughout the text.
    Book, 2012New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2012. — J BERLIN
  • In an alternate history of New York, three kids try to solve a modern-world puzzle and complete a treasure hunt laid into the streets and buildings of the city.
    Book, 2017New York, NY : Walden Pond Press, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2017] — J RUBY
  • Sam (a puzzle master) and Martina (a history whiz) become involved in a dangerous quest to find seven keys left behind by Benjamin Franklin, which, when gathered together, unlock a powerful weapon, so the middle schoolers must solve the puzzles…
    Book, 2016New York : Bloomsbury, 2016. — J THOMSON
  • After winning the preliminary round, the Smiths are whisked to Winterton Chalet to compete in the official Winterton Bee against their long-lost relatives. Hope wants to get in and out, beat the snobbish family at their own game, and never see them…
    Book, 2023New York : Pixel+Ink, 2023. — J SUMNER
  • The Greystone kids thought they knew. They've been a happy family, just the three of them and their mom. But everything changes when reports of three kidnapped children reach the Greystone kids, and they're shocked by the startling similarities…
    Book, 2019New York, NY : Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2019] — J HADDIX