The Best Puzzle Books for Kids: 10+ Screen Free Picks

Murdle Jr.

Best for Ages 8-12

A kid-friendly spin on the hit logic puzzle series Murdle. Readers solve mini-mysteries by piecing together clues. Perfect for young detectives, each puzzle has a page or two to read, and of course the clues themselves. The story is light, age appropriate, and fun without feeling overwhelming. 

Mini Murdle Junior Summer Fun

Ages 8-12

This short and travel friendly puzzle book still has hours of puzzles inside that will keep your kids busy for a good while. The book is compact and easy to add to a book bag or purse for travel and has a variety of puzzles and brain teasers to test your logic and reasoning skills.

Over 50 Secret Codes

This cute, full color book not only provides you plenty of codes to crack but it also takes time to teach you how these codes are created so you can disguise your own secret messages. It’s the perfect size for travel and kept my even my teenager happily entertained.

My First Adventure Storybooks

Best Age: Young children, early Elementary.

These adorable flip the page books let you be the hero. You read the book as your chosen character. Think of them like a Choose your own Adventure meets a beginning RPG for kids! Each page is split to allow your child to make different choices and choose how they want the story to go. On the corners of the book are wheels where they can track items they pick up, powers, and more. They are endlessly re-readable and one of our kids’ favorite choices for bedtime stories. 

Even better, they’re printed with a Dyslexic friendly font and have full page illustrations which make them very approachable for children of all ages and needs. Multiple books in series

Sleuths on the Loose

Best age: 8-12

This hybrid novel/puzzle book blends both a traditional chapter book for elementary age readers, with the fun of a puzzle book. You’ll read the story while playing attention for key details you’ll need later to solve deduction puzzles. It’s a fun whodunnit mystery that keeps the Murdle spirit alive.

Exit the Book

Best Age: 10-12

Based on the extremely popular Exit: The Game series, this book turns the escape room experience into a story you’ll experience on the page. Like in the game series you’ll encounter many riddles and puzzles you’ll need to solve and you may find that you need a pen, scissors, tape, or glue. These are designed to be one time play through books in order for you to get the full experience. You’ll jump around the book, going to different pages as directed and as you solve clues. It’s clever and cute, and will certainly challenge their minds while reading. These are books that will likely take kids multiple days to finish as they work through both the story and puzzles.  Multiple books in series

Please note, there are older teen and adult novels and graphic novels in this Exit the Book series. These feature content, language and themes that we recommend parental discretion for. They are clearly intended for adults on the covers so it shouldn’t be hard to mistake. 

Graphic Novel Adventures:
Sherlock Holmes Baker Street Irregulars and
The Crusoe Crew

Best age: 8-12+, Fun for whole family

If you are story to work through WITH your child, Graphic Novel Adventures are a great interactive book option. This was hands down my kids’ favorite interactive book they read and they’re begging for more!

These are cooperative stories where you and up to four readers can “play” through a story. Each player is a different character with different abilities. Each panel numbered and the art depicts a scenario like a regular graphic novel. However, you are looking for numbers in the pictures while reading, these numbers indicate different panels that you can flip to to continue the story. Some players will see number that no one else sees on their panel, this indicates that they will use one of their special abilities to further the story.

You can play these solo from each characters perspectives which can change how you are able to solve the mystery.

There are multiple options in the Graphic Novel Adventure series, for both kids and adults.

Pirates — Graphic Novel Adventures

Best Age: 10-12+

These graphic novel adventures are a solo experience where you’ll read through a graphic novel, jumping around the book as indicated like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel. You use a player sheet to track your players’ items they pick up and things like their strength and intelligence which will help or hinder you as you encounter various things.*

The puzzles are more straightforward with the book largely focused on the story element and choosing your path. 

There are multiple books in the Pirates series; you can read them in any order. Your Theme Park is another book in this style, the game is a little harder but very unique as well.
*Mild violence depicted in Pirates.

The Sherlock Holmes Puzzle Series

Best Age: Tweens, Teens, Adults

This book contains dozens of bite-size mysteries and puzzles all themed around Sherlock Holmes. They’re logic heavy and require players to think outside the box, much like Sherlock to solve. We love using it on the road or as a meal-time activity to spark conversation and fun.

If your older kids have outgrown the books on this list, they’ll like our best puzzle books for adults. Here we cover all the best puzzle books like Murdoku, Eliminate, and more that are great for teens and adults.