These are stories with children either hunting for real treasure or taking part in a treasure hunt game.
Treasure Hunt Games
These books are about children taking part in a treasure hunt style game, and they are aware that it’s a game that someone is playing with them with provided clues.
Mystery
Garbage Juice for Breakfast
Dawn is back at summer camp, and there’s a treasure hunt to solve. Can she solve the puzzle before Lizzie? Part of the Polka Dot Private Eye series.
Meg Mackintosh and the Case of the Missing Babe Ruth Baseball
Years ago, Meg’s grandfather’s sister hid his prized baseball, autographed by Babe Ruth. She never told him what she did with it, but she left clues in the style of a treasure hunt to help him find it. Can Meg use her knowledge of nursery rhymes to solve the puzzle for her grandfather?
Series
About three siblings who solve mysteries together. Many of them are treasure hunts, and many of them are set by family members. By Peggy Parish. 1966-1986.
Picture Books
The 13th Clue (1988)
A young girl follows a series of clues created by her friends to a special birthday surprise.
Hunting for Real Treasure
This is about children searching for hidden treasure or valuable objects where they have to dig out all or most of the clues themselves with real consequences because it’s not just a game. I don’t count hunts for stolen property in this. In order for it to count as a treasure hunt, there has to be something of value that was either lost or deliberately hidden by someone without being concealed stolen objects.
Adventure/General Fiction
About a boy living in Nebraska in the 1950s and his adventures. By Trella Lamson Dick.
Mystery
Not really a kid’s book but the inspiration for the Disney movie Candleshoe. A group of children defend an ancestral home from thieves. By Michael Innes.
Mystery of the Secret Dolls (1993)
A pair of girls search for antique dolls from the Civil War era that are the key to an old family secret. By Vicki Berger Erwin.
Four cousins search for a hidden treasure in their grandfather’s mansion during a blizzard.
Trixie makes a new friend, Honey, a wealthy young girl who has moved to the country with her governess to recover her health. While Trixie helps Honey by getting her outside to play and build up her strength, the two girls end up meeting a runaway orphan and helping him to find the inheritance left to him by his wealthy and reclusive uncle. Part of the Trixie Belden series.
Mystery/Fantasy
Mysteries with magical or supernatural overtones.
Young Tommy Bassumtyte, an orphan, goes to live with a distant cousin of the same name in England. His resemblance to a distant ancestor of theirs helps him to travel through time and solve the mystery of a missing treasure.
A couple of American children visiting Ireland seek a hidden treasure with the help of a gypsy boy and learn a little about Irish history and legend. By Elizabeth Baldwin Hazelton.
Jestress's Forgotten Books and Stories 