Book picks similar to
Lost in the City: A Julie Mystery by Kathleen O'Dell


american-girl
historical-fiction
mystery
middle-grade

Courtney Changes the Game


Kellen Hertz - 2020
    But she can’t understand why there aren’t more girl characters in the games she plays. When a school project allows her to create her own video game, the hero is a girl who knows how to handle any situation—something Courtney struggles with in real life. Whether it’s learning to share a room with her stepsister or supporting her mom when she announces she’s running for mayor, Courtney’s blended family has to learn to work together differently. It’s a whole new game for Courtney, and she’s figuring out the rules as she goes. Includes full-color illustrations and a historical “looking back” section.

Isabel: Taking Wing


Annie Dalton - 2002
    But when you are a boy, the whole world can be your home. Men build houses and ships and sail off to discover strange new lands. But women must stay indoors, sewing stitches so fine that no one will ever see them. Our work is only visible if we do it badly. Aunt Elinor says I must be ladylike, like Sabine. But I will never be like Sabine in a thousand years...

Peppermints in the Parlor


Barbara Brooks Wallace - 1980
    But this time things are different. Her aunt's once bright and lively home is now dead with silence. Evil lurks in every corner and the dark, shadowed walls watch and whisper late at night. Emily is desperate to uncover the truth about what is happening at Sugar Hill Hall. But time is running out, and she must find a way to save the people and home she cares so much about.

The Man Who Was Poe


Avi - 1989
    And Edmund is alone. His mother is gone. His aunt, who went in search of her, is dead. His sister has disappeared. Edmund has no one. Except for a stranger of the night.A dark, mysterious stranger who flees from demons of his own...who follows Edmund with grim determination through the cold and shadow city, promising to help, but often hindering. A stranger who needs Edmund for purpose of his own!

The Secret of the Old Clock


Carolyn Keene - 1930
    To the surprise of many, the Topham family will inherit wealthy Josiah Crowley's fortune, instead of deserving relatives and friends who were promised inheritances. Nancy determines that a clue to a second will might be found in an old clock Mr. Crowley had owned and she seeks to find the timepiece. Her search not only tests her keen mind, but also leads her into a thrilling adventure.

Welcome to Josefina's World 1824: Growing Up on America's Southwest Frontier


Yvette LaPierre - 1999
    Lavishly illustrated spreads feature historical photos, cutaway scenes and fascinating facts about life in America's past. Color illustrations throughout.

The Egypt Game


Zilpha Keatley Snyder - 1967
    But she soon discovers that they both love anything to do with ancient Egypt. When they stumble upon a deserted storage yard behind the A-Z Antiques and Curio Shop, Melanie and April decide it's the perfect spot for the Egypt Game.Before long there are six Egyptians instead of two. After school and on weekends they all meet to wear costumes, hold ceremonies, and work on their secret code.Everyone thinks it's just a game, until strange things begin happening to the players. Has the Egypt Game gone too far?

Seeds of Hope: The Gold Rush Diary of Susanna Fairchild


Kristiana Gregory - 2001
    But tragedy strikes when Susanna's mother is lost to the sea. Hearing stories of great wealth, Susanna's physician father decides he wants to join the hordes of men rushing to California to mine for gold.

The Maze of Bones


Rick Riordan - 2008
    When their beloved aunt--matriarch of the world's most powerful family--dies, orphaned siblings Amy and Dan Cahill compete with less honorable Cahill descendants in a race around the world to find cryptic clues to a mysterious fortune.Book includes game cards which the reader may use to play an online version of the treasure hunt.

Welcome to Kit's World · 1934: Growing Up During America's Great Depression


Harriet Brown - 2002
    Through photographs, illustrations, and both factual and fictionalized anecdotes, shows what life was like in the United States during the Depression.

The Cabinet of Wonders


Marie Rutkoski - 2008
    But it's never been ordinary. She has a pet tin spider named Astrophil who likes to hide in her snarled hair and give her advice. Her best friend can trap lightning inside a glass sphere. Petra also has a father in faraway Prague who is able to move metal with his mind. He has been commissioned by the prince of Bohemia to build the world's finest astronomical clock.Petra's life is forever changed when, one day, her father returns home – blind. The prince has stolen his eyes, enchanted them, and now wears them. But why? Petra doesn't know, but she knows this: she will go to Prague, sneak into Salamander Castle, and steal her father's eyes back.Joining forces with Neel, whose fingers extend into invisible ghosts that pick locks and pockets, Petra finds that many people in the castle are not what they seem, and that her father's clock has powers capable of destroying their world.

Lanie


Jane Kurtz - 2010
    She longs get out and go camping, but they all want to stay home. It wouldn't be so bad if her best friend was around, but she's halfway around the world, living out their dream of studying wildlife. Lanie feels she never gets to have any adventures-anywhere. But when her favorite aunt comes to stay, Lanie discovers that the wonders of nature are everywhere-even in her own backyard.

A Coal Miner's Bride: The Diary of Anetka Kaminska, Lattimer, Pennsylvania, 1896


Susan Campbell Bartoletti - 2000
    A diary account of thirteen-year-old Anetka's life in Poland in 1896, immigration to America, marriage to a coal miner, widowhood, and happiness in finally finding her true love.

The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel)


Ellen Raskin - 1971
    Leon Carillon sets off to meet the husband she hasn't seen since he was five, she doesn't know what to expect. She certainly doesn't bargain for the storm that knocks their boat overboard, or the fact that her husband will disappear, leaving only one very waterlogged clue. She also doesn't know that while she searches for Leon (or is it Noel?) she will have to find the answer to these important questions: Were Tony and Tina really Siamese Twins? Why does the crossword puzzle expert wear a helmet during dinner? And what do the glub blubs mean?

I Walk in Dread: The Diary of Deliverance Trembley, Witness to the Salem Witch Trials, Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1691


Lisa Rowe Fraustino - 2004
    But when four young girls from the village accuse some of the local women of being witches, Deliverance finds herself caught up in the ensuing drama of the trials. And life in Salem is never the same.