I would like to welcome you to week 3 in our 30 Minutes of Reading Challenge. I’m excited to let you know we’ve officially wrapped up our Henry and Mudge series in oreading challenge. I think it is time for our reading adventure to grow a little!
When we started this challenge, we spent several days with the same series. We began with Amelia Bedelia, and then we moved on to Henry and Mudge. Those books were perfect for our younger readers.
But now I want to open the challenge up to older children, tweens, teens, parents, grandparents, and anyone who still loves a good children’s book. This week we will be sharing mystery books I read as a teenager.
Instead of asking everyone to read the same series all week, we’re going to start sharing a different featured book each day. That doesn’t mean you have to read the book we feature. It simply gives you another book to discover.
If you already have a book you’re reading, grab it. If you’ve been looking for something new, maybe today’s featured book will be just what you need. And today, we’re going back to one of my childhood favorites.
Before you say I don’t have the book you chose to read that is okay read anything you have or ask your friends and family if they have any of these books. If not check out your library or Half Price Books and even if they don’t have the title we chose you can pick out one from the series because they don’t have to be read in order.
Meet Trixie Belden! The Secret of the Mansion is the first book in the classic Trixie Belden mystery series, making it a wonderful place to begin if you’ve never met Trixie and her friends.
Trixie Belden is generally a good fit for middle-grade readers, around ages 8–12, although older readers—and adults who remember these books from childhood—may enjoy them, too.
And this particular series has a special place in my heart. I read Trixie Belden as a child, and Suzanne read them too. We both loved these books. Now, I can’t wait to introduce my nieces to Trixie Beldon.
For me there is something incredibly special about finding a book you loved when you were young and getting to introduce it to another generation. And now I’m excited to introduce Trixie Belden to Charlie, because I don’t think he’s ever heard of these books!
That’s one of the things I love about reading. Stories don’t have to stay in one generation. They can travel from a child’s bookshelf to a parent’s bookshelf, then someday find their way to another child’s hands.
I would like to share what The Secret of the Mansion About? Trixie Belden is a young girl who loves adventure, mysteries, and figuring things out. In this book Trixie and her friends become involved with a mysterious mansion and the secrets surrounding it.
As the story unfolds, readers get to follow along with the clues and see if they can figure things out right along with Trixie. That’s part of what makes a mystery such a fun reading choice.
You’re not just reading to find out what happens. You’re reading to figure out why it happens. If your #Homeschooling a good mystery can become much more than a reading assignment.
For homeschool families, a Trixie Belden book can naturally lead into reading comprehension, vocabulary, character development, sequencing events, making predictions, and learning how to use clues from a story to draw conclusions.
You could even stop at different points in the story and ask: What do you think is going to happen next? What clues have you noticed? Which character do you trust? What would you do if you were Trixie?
And after finishing the book, your child could write their own mystery, create a new ending, draw a map of the setting, or write a letter to one of the characters. Sometimes the best lessons are the ones that don’t feel like lessons at all.
You may notice that books like Trixie Belden can show up in several of our seasonal gift guides at Greatful Moments. Why? Because a good book makes a wonderful gift. You could give one Trixie Belden book to a young reader, or put together several books from the series for a child who loves mysteries.
That makes this type of book a natural fit for our Back-to-School Gift Guide, especially for families looking for something beyond school supplies. It can also be a wonderful addition to our Summer Gift Guide. Summer gives children a little more time to get lost in a story.
And don’t forget Christmas. A collection of classic mystery books would make a wonderful Christmas gift for the young reader on your list. You could even pair the books with a cozy blanket, a reading light, a bookmark, or a special reading journal and create your own little reading gift basket.
And What About Halloween? Now, I’m not talking about gory or frightening books. But there is something fun about a mystery with a little suspense when October rolls around. Why give candy when you can give a gift that can last forever?
The Trixie Belden series has plenty of mysteries and adventures that can give young readers that “What is going on here?” feeling without turning reading time into something truly scary.
So when Halloween gets closer, we’ll be looking at some fun mystery and suspense books that might make great October reading. Who knows? We may even find a Trixie Belden mystery that gives us just the right amount of spooky, mysterious fun.
Here’s the only rule today: Read for 30 minutes. If you want to start The Secret of the Mansion, wonderful! If you don’t have a copy, check your local library, look for a used copy, or find it through your favorite book source.
And if Trixie Belden isn’t your thing? Pick another book! That’s the part of our reading challenge that is changing. I’m going to give you a featured book each day, but you get to choose what you read.
Because reading shouldn’t feel like an assignment. It should feel like an invitation. So grab a book, find a comfortable spot, turn off the distractions, and give yourself 30 minutes of reading today.
And if you remember Trixie Belden from your own childhood, I want to hear about it! Did you read Trixie Belden growing up? Were you a Trixie Belden fan, a Nancy Drew fan, a Hardy Boys fan—or did you have another favorite series?
And if you’ve never met Trixie before, maybe today is the day you discover a book that could become your next favorite old-fashioned mystery. Happy Reading! Have a fun filled Sunday.
Grateful, Thankful, and Blessed 💕
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates