24 Book Escape Room Ideas to Excite Middle Schoolers

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Puzzles, hidden clues, and thrilling challenges — oh my! Imagine merging the excitement of an escape room with the magic of literature. Transform your students into detectives and problem-solvers as they crack codes and uncover hidden mysteries. Whether diving into a coming-of-age novel like The Outsiders or navigating the dystopian society of The Giver, book escape room ideas create an immersive, unforgettable learning experience.

Unlock themed book escape room ideas by genre

The first step in your escape room journey is choosing the right book. Your class may have just finished A Wrinkle in Time or Hatchet, both great choices, but they’re not the only options. Any book can be transformed into an exciting escape room idea with a little creativity.

Get lost in a mystery and adventure escape room

Adventure books are filled with suspense, engaging storylines, and thrilling quests — making them perfect for an escape room experience. Plus, you can align your book-themed escape room with Common Core Reading Literature standards by having students infer character motivations through clues and with Speaking & Listening standards by encouraging teamwork to analyze puzzles. 

Try incorporating these escape room ideas into your book units:

• Create a library escape room: Use Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein for a library-themed puzzle to get to the secret exit. You can even email the author for an already-created PDF escape game. 
• Join a secret society:The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart is perfect for cracking ciphers and character codes to earn a place in a secret society.
• Discover lost art at a museum: The Van Gogh Deception by Deron Hicks offers the perfect theme for stopping an art heist through art-themed puzzles. 
• Crack the will: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin challenges students to analyze a will and uncover the truth behind a murder.
• Help Bilbo reclaim treasure: Students can use The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien for a treasure adventure by answering Gollum’s riddles and unscrambling elf names. 
• Solve Al Capone’s hidden message: Use the book Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko to create a cryptic message to escape Alcatraz Prison. 

Decipher fantasy books for an epic escape room adventure

Mysteries aren’t the only books that keep readers on their toes — fantasy novels are full of twists, turns, and magical challenges. These fan-favorite books provide the perfect backdrop for an immersive escape room adventure:

• Tesser through space: Use A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle to transport students to another world by arranging planets and decoding hidden messages.
• Escape the glade: The Maze Runner by James Dashner sets the stage for solving clues, riddles, and mathematical codes to find a way out.
• Sneak through Hogwarts: Have students keep Filch off their tale by using Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling to create potions, decode messages written in runes, and play Wizard’s Chess. 
• Survive the trial by tale: The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani escape room can challenge students to crack logic puzzles and pass the Mirror of Truth using wit and strategy.
• Restore the power of the ember: The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau sparks problem-solving through circuit puzzles and hidden message clues to bring light back to the city.

The Lightning Thief Escape Room – Escape the Underworld (Print/Digital)
By Middle School Maverick
Grades: 4th-8th
Standards: CCSS CCRA.R.1, R.2, R.3

Using the characters in the story and their knowledge of the book, students help to stop Gabe and Kronos from trapping Percy in the Underworld. This immersive experience offers a digital and print version and takes about 40 minutes. It works as a great review to cover characters, plot, setting, and theme. 

Dissect dystopian fiction through book escape room ideas

Dystopian fiction has many fun elements any class can enjoy. It’s also a great way to pay homage to Halloween by creating a dystopian book Halloween escape room. Remember costumes are encouraged! 

• Survive the arena: Have your students dress up like tributes from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and solve puzzles about tracker jackers or solve a mockingjay message. 
• Identify the real enemy: Using the setting of The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey, students can solve ciphers and puzzles to disable alien tech. A final quest could be finding the real alien among them. 
• Prove you belong: Use Divergent by Veronica Roth to have students match character traits or unlock a box to prove they belong to the Dauntless. 
• Escape the Harvest Camp: Escape before you are marked for unwinding by using ciphers created from passages in Unwind by Neal Shusterman. Students must also piece together case files of characters. 

The Giver Escape Room Novel Activity – Breakout Review for Lois Lowry’s Novel 
By Presto Plans
Grades: 7th-10th
Standards: CCSS L.8.4, 8.4a; CCRA.R.3

Just finishing up The Giver? An escape room with stations covering plot, characterization, analysis, and vocabulary is the perfect way to review what students learned. The resource includes teacher instructions, a classroom poster, instruction cards, materials, and an answer booklet. Take the time to do the reflection and response assignments to get the most out of the activity. 

Explore classic and realistic fiction book escape room ideas

Some books are so ingrained in our curriculum that it’s impossible to imagine a school year without them. Classics and realistic fiction provide the perfect backdrop for an engaging yet easy escape room. Plus, you can often find ready-made escape room ideas, décor, activities, and more, making planning a breeze. Bring these timeless stories to life and make your escape room adventures effortless!

Lord of the Flies Escape Room Review Activity – Review Characters, Theme, & More
By Nouvelle ELA
Grades: 8th-11th

Turn Lord of the Flies into an escape room with this simple and easy-to-follow review. It includes four core tasks, a final task, station cards, and an answer sheet. You also get a full teacher’s guide to make setup effortless. 

The Outsiders, Do It for Johnny! Digital Escape Room
By Danielle Knight
Grades: 7th-12th

Bring The Outsiders to life in your classroom through a digital escape room experience. Using a 360-view escape room experience, your students will be able to see the world through S.E. Hinton’s lens. It also comes with a VR option and is designed for small groups and cooperative learning. 

A Long Walk to Water Escape Room Novel Study and Chapter Review Questions
By In Around the Middle
Grades: 5th-8th
Standards: CCSS CCRA.R.1, R.3, R.4

Using the core elements of the story, students examine 16 task cards to immerse themselves into the major plot points of the story. They also use interactive decoding puzzles to solve the riddles and unlock the levels. The best part is the adventure doesn’t need anything but students’ excitement and a printer. 

Hello, Universe | Novel Study and Escape Room | BUNDLE
By Teaching Literacy
Grades: 6th-7th
Standards: CCSS CCRA.R.1, R.2, R.3

Realistic fiction can be easy to bring alive in the classroom or library. That’s why stories like Hello, Universe are perfect. Dive into this escape room with station set-up instructions, a tips sheet, a teacher’s guide, an answer book, and an answer key. It also offers student reflections to help students dissect what they reviewed. 

Holes Escape Room – Escape Camp Green Lake! 
By Hey Natayle
Grades: 5th-7th
Standards: CCSS RL.5.1, 5.10, 6.10

Imagine having your kids try to escape Camp Greenlake. Well, they can with this simple Holes escape room. All of the tasks for students to complete are on a Google site. No setup necessary. Just pair them up and let them go. Tech support is also available. 

Seedfolks Digital Escape Room Paul Fleischman Novel 
By Chambers Creations
Grades: 5th-8th

Give your kids an interactive review of Seedfolks. This bundle includes a PDF, Google Apps, and internet activities with five digital locks including secret codes and riddles. This resource also has interactive challenges around Tuesdays with Morrie.

Escape Room, To Kill A Mockingbird Digital Escape Room 
By English Oh My
Grades: 8th-12th

Get ready to save a history assembly by immersing your students in this escape room. Using a Google site, your students will answer questions about the novel, explore Alabama, solve a puzzle, watch a video, and complete a slide puzzle. It’s a no-prep and fun way to end the unit. The best part is you can assign it right in Google Classroom. 

Set the stage for the perfect escape room

Creating an engaging escape room can take a bit of planning and setup. Unless you’ve chosen a theme that’s already created, you need to decide on the puzzles and materials you want to use. The key is knowing what will captivate your students and aligning it with your book’s theme. 

To start, ask yourself: 

• What are the students going to discover in the escape room? 
• Are they going to be characters in the book? 
• What kind of puzzle stations are you going to create? 

To keep students engaged and eager to solve each challenge, ensure you have a solid grasp of the book’s backstory, characters, and structure. The more immersive the experience, the more memorable the learning!

Acquire puzzle station ideas for your sleuthing

Books are rich with literary elements and themes, making them perfect for crafting immersive escape room puzzles. Make your escape room enthralling through these puzzle ideas: 

• Create a cipher: Use the first letter in each chapter or from the book’s title. 
• Design character anagrams: Scramble names of well-known characters to create lock clues. 
• Craft puzzles: Use book covers or quotes from the book to create a puzzle for students to piece together. 
• Try invisible ink: Write secret messages in books with invisible ink. 
• Incorporate famous quotes: Scramble quotes for students to research and decode. They also work great for riddles. 
• Use numbers to your advantage: Create combinations from known numbers in the book or page numbers. 
• Construct bookmarks: Add book text and important clues on bookmarks. 
• Add symbols: Make passages part of symbol substitution to unlock boxes. 
• Make it interactive: Use the movies or audiobooks to create audio clues. 
• Go digital: Make QR codes that take students to clues or ciphers on Google Classroom. 
• Create a sequence: Put the main events from the book in the correct order. 
• Match clues to characters: Use riddles and clues to lead students to a specific character to solve a clue. 

Remember, your clues should build toward a final reveal or “escape.” Plan your puzzles with the ultimate challenge in mind to ensure a cohesive storyline until the very end.

Remember that ambiance is everything

Creating an immersive book escape room for middle schoolers requires the right supplies to transform your space into a mansion of mystery. With these essentials, you can craft an atmospheric escape room that wows your students from start to finish.

• Locks (combination, padlocks, puzzle locks.)
• Index cards
• Bookmarks
• Book boxes
• Ciphers
• Morse code sheets
• Magnifying glasses
• Maps
• Invisible ink pens
• UV lights
• Rubik’s cubes (hidden messages)
• Maps
• Word puzzles
• Paper
• Markers
• Tape 
• Boxes

Make your room play the part

The magic of escape rooms comes from immersing participants in a complete experience. Decorate your space to match your theme, play themed music, and add props like posters, fake books, keys, and scrolls to set the mood. 

For example, an escape room themed to fit The School of Good and Evil might be divided into a “good” side with illustrations of magical creatures and gold streamers and an “evil” side featuring black streamers and plastic skulls. A Harry Potter escape room could showcase images of Hogwarts with floating candles overhead, while a winter-themed escape room might include snow, icicles, and a frosty ambiance. 

Although every theme will differ, a few supplies are essential for any room:

• Projector
• Dry erase markers
• Clocks
• Puzzle pieces
• Scrolls
• Books
• Streamers
• Boxes
• Bluetooth speaker
• Fabric
• Frames
• String
• Posters
• Candles
• Plants
• Magical elements (potion bottles, wands, etc.)

Decrypt escape room magic with TPT resources

Adding an escape room to your classroom makes book reviews more exciting. Use premade puzzles and challenges to keep students engaged, sharpening their critical thinking skills while reinforcing key literary concepts through escape room resources.