Look, reading should be fun. I love the intellectual thrill of literary analysis as much as the next English language arts teacher, but what makes me read close to 100 books a year is the fact that reading is fun. A good book makes you squeal and gasp and laugh. It holds your attention even as TikTok beckons. One Killer Problem by Justine Picella Winans is a fun book to read. Students will keep reading to find out who killed the math teacher. They’ll want to be friends with Gigi, or develop a book crush on Cedar. While they have fun reading it, they’ll become a better reader and they’ll start to see themselves as a reader. As that happens, they become more and more ready to partake in the intellectual thrill of literary analysis.
One Killer Problem by Justine Pucella Winans
Genre: Mystery
Age Range: 13-18
Summary: 16-year-old Gigi is many things — terrible at math, a victim of IBS, and secretly in love with Mari — but she didn’t expect to become a detective. When her favorite teacher, Mr. Ford, is found dead in his classroom, Gigi is shocked but also suspicious. Since the police have written it off as an accident, Gigi and her friends start to poke around. They learn that Mr. Ford had uncovered a cheating scandal, one that could implicate hundreds of their classmates. Was someone desperate enough to keep their wrong-doings buried that they murdered Mr. Ford?
Teaching with One Killer Problem
Recommend this book to students who:
- Are huge mystery fans. Do they listen to true crime podcasts? Devour everything published by Karen McManus (One of Us is Lying, Two Can Keep a Secret, The Cousins, Such Charming Liars)? Love Promise Boys by Nick Brooks? Then hand them One Killer Problem.
- Like stories where they get to learn about queer identities, such as Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli or Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas.
*If they want another title that is a combo of BOTH bullet points above, they can try the slasher-thriller Your Lonely Nights Are Over by Adam Sass (ages 15+).
Ready to grow your classroom's reading culture? Then it's time to celebrate. This set of 12 end-of-month reflections invites students to celebrate everything they read. It's a sure way to keep them coming back for more.
Why bother reading and recommending One Killer Problem?
The characters offer representation for several LGBTQIA+ identities. This makes it more than a mystery for students who are figuring out their own identity: they might see something in one of the characters that unlocks a bit of understanding about themselves.
Gigi is a great teenage character. She is brilliant at some things (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, for one), struggles with others, and rides the roller coaster of believing in herself at one moment and seeing herself as a failure the next. She has great friends who help her recognize her best self — the type of friends we all want for our teenagers.
My final two cents: I have loved mysteries since my first Nancy Drew at age 6. They are fun and you can’t put them down — which is exactly how I want my students to feel about reading. The teacher in me loves mysteries even more when they highlight social issues kids care about. One Killer Problem does all that.
This post includes affiliate links. Any purchases made through them come at no extra cost to you but they do help keep this newsletter free and accessible.
Want posts like these delivered directly to your inbox? Sign up for a weekly recommendation to level up your book matchmaking.
