Top 16 Riddles About Books Updated 04 /2024

Puzzles have been around since the beginning of time because people enjoy solving problems. Jigsaws, crosswords, sliders, Rubik's cubes, and games like Minesweeper are just some of the types of puzzles that people enjoy. When you solve a puzzle, find all the words, or figure out a cipher or riddle, you feel like you've done something good and well done.

For people who love puzzles and want to improve their skills on January 29th, National Puzzle Day, or for people who enjoy puzzles every day, these middle grade books have their own puzzles, riddles, tricks, and little mysteries. Middle grade books not only have more room for puzzles than adult and young adult novels, but the puzzles themselves are there for the reader to solve. There are no plot twists or codes that you can't figure out. These books have fun content that is meant to stimulate the brain, show imaginative stories, and give the reader a sense of accomplishment. If that sounds like something you'd like to read, get your TBR list ready for puzzle season!

Deltora Quest series by Emily Rodda

There is a secret code in book one, so you know that the author is setting the reader up for a lot of fun puzzles. It is full of riddles, tricks, and mysteries in Emily Rodda's eight book Deltora Quest series as well as the three-book Deltora Shadowlands and four-book Dragons of Deltora series. Gatekeepers with deadly rhymes, partial palindromes with different messages and broken signs that say one thing and now say another are just a few examples. There are at least three visual puzzles in each book (yes, there are images), and each book is about 130 pages long. Each book also manages to flesh out the characters, world, and plot without sacrificing pacing, action, or character development. Don't be fooled by the papyrus font and the names that are out of this world. To get the seven stones of the Belt of Deltora and defeat the Shadow Lord, Leif, Barda, and Jasmine must solve high-stakes puzzles and think outside the box to get the stones and win.

Redwall series by Brian Jacques

He likes world-building, fantasy adventures, and old-fashioned word games. Rodda, on the other hand, switches back and forth between visual and word puzzles. Jacques, on the other hand, stays in the riddle section of the puzzle community. A lot of people who have read Jacques' twenty-two book series think of anthropomorphic rodents, medieval towns and landscapes, mouthwatering food descriptions, and sick rhymes when they hear the word "redwall." In the first book, for example, there's a riddle that helps Matthias get a lost sword from Martin the Warrior (who you can read about in another Redwall book called, you guessed it, Martin the Warrior). Throughout the series, there are many songs and poems, but there are also many riddles, some more than twenty lines long, that help the story move forward.

Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer

Fantasy action/adventure is a great genre for people who like to figure things out, even if the story itself doesn't have many concrete puzzles to work out in the book. It's easy to add extra fun to a mysterious, action-packed, grand-scale story by adding a code to the bottom of each page. Colfer's Artemis Fowl books are a great example of how to do this. Colfer doesn't just repeat the same messages in each book or across the series. Instead, he uses a language from the story (Gnommish) to write full messages written by the characters that help develop the story and immerse the readers even more in the world. To read the messages, you'll need The Artemis Fowl Files book, which also has other Gnome passages to read. For some extra fun, look at the different messages in the US and British editions of the book, and don't forget to look for codes on the cover!

Warren the 13th series by Tania Del Rio and Will Staehle

Staehle's illustrations are amazing, and the characters are a mix of The Addams Family and A Series of Unfortunate Events. There's a lot to love about the Warren the 13th trilogy. You can read about Warren, a young bellhop who is trying to find the All-Seeing Eye, which is a magical item that will help him keep his family's hotel. His aunt, Anaconda, is trying to get it for herself. During the series, you'll come across hidden mysteries in family portraits, trees that can speak in riddles, and woods that whisper in codes. That's not all: There are also clever changes in this series, like the flipped chapter headers for the witch sections. These changes aren't a puzzle, but they are clever and spooky.

Comic Quests series by Various

If you're a gamer, these choose-your-own-adventure comics are for you. Even if you play video games, play tabletop games, or dress up and live-action the comics, you'll have a lot of fun with them. If you want to read about a medieval fantasy adventure, the four Knights Club comics are for you. The two Hocus & Pocus comics are best for people who like Pokémon because you can train animals in them. No matter which direction you go, you'll be able to cast spells, fight with other people, travel to strange places, meet interesting people, and solve some really hard visual puzzles. Among the mysteries in this series are cryptic gravestones and secret passageways, as well as coded doors and riddled advice. Often, you'll need a pen and paper to figure out the details of these mysteries.

Find Momo series by Andrew Knapp

As a whole, the Find Momo books aren't just for kids. They're a series that can be fun for everyone, especially if the family is into games like Where's Waldo? or I Spy. Andrew Knapp has a lot of pictures of his border collie, Momo, and their trips across the United States and Europe. These aren't just pictures that look good on Instagram (though they are beautiful). Each picture has Momo hidden away in a corner, in a crowd, on top of stairs, or behind a car, sometimes just with his head peeking out. This makes them perfect for puzzlers who like to get extra endorphins from finding the almost impossible to find. A new one called Let's Find Momo Outdoors! will be out this May. There are also board book-friendly versions for the little ones.

---