If you liked young detective games by Brendan Patrick Hennessy and Felicity Drake, you should probably also try Sixth Grade Detective. It's in the same genre, but with younger characters: the children are around 11 years old, and reading about their fluffy crushes is as sweet as watching Chico and Roberta dance. The mysteries you investigate are accordingly tamer - like finding a missing book in the second episode.
The characters are likeable and have some curious hidden depths; I was particularly surprised by Kyle, the leader of the bullies. And the fifth "case" was really heart-warming.
A concise, effective story with a couple of twists and interesting narrative mechanics akin to Common Ground.
It wouldn't work as static fiction. The player has to make choices without having full information and not knowing what to expect next - this experience is important in presenting the character of Nora Curtis. The plot structure doesn't just serve to tell a punchy zombie apocalypse tale; States of Awareness is also about personal relationships, and our current pandemic, and other things.
On my first playthrough, I got the most positive ending - but didn't realize it was the best for the characters until I replayed the game.