Ellen Raskin

The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance.

The Westing game

The Westing Game (Puffin Modern Classics)

A quick little mystery read.  Sunset Towers has 6 new apartments with 6 new families.  Sixteen members of the residents will be chosen to play in a game worth millions.  Also included in the game is a bomber, a thief, a murderer and imposter.  Everyone has a past and everyone’s past will be revealed before someone else is murdered.

Barbara Williford

lauren

Sarah Sammis

How the game is set up from the making of the teams, the clues, and the stakes involved was clearly an influence to another book, or more specifically, series of books. The reading of the will and the rules of the game is very similar to The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan (2008), the first of the 39 Clues books.

The dynamic between all the different residents and their ties to the dead man is the same building blocks as many an adult cozy mystery I've read. But the back stories of these characters has the wacky logic that's the mainstay of many a middle grade book.

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Stephanie Denton

Even better than I remembered from when I read it as a kid. Twists and turns throughout. Just when you think you have it figured out, it surprises you. Great character development, considering there was a large cast of characters. Definitely deserved the Newberry Medal.

Fun read! Kids were in and out but they kinda enjoyed it.

Dan Dugan

Bekah Contreras

Read this soooooo long ago, but I still remember this as my first mystery book. Oh what a mystery! I distinctly remember telling my mom that I wish I could erase my memory of reading that book, and reread it just to see my mind be blown away again. The ending is so satisfying with its unpredictably and surprise. You'll never guess how it ends. Quite possibly my favorite children's mystery, and I hope it will remain that way.

The Westing Game

kaitlan

I believe I read this book twice. Or three times..? (I can't remember.) The first time I read it, I thought it was absolutely amazing! ..And, of course, it still is! It instantly was named One of My Most Favorite Books in the World, and I have recommended it to everyone. 
If you like mystery, this is the book for you. 
If you like adventure, this is the book for you. 
If you like something that will give you something to think about at night, this is the book for you.
(And basically everything else in between.)
Just read it! You will not regret it.
Although, at least for me, the second time reading it wasn't as amazing as the first time.. Probably because I couldn't forget the amazingly witty, brilliant plot! (I mean, if you already know what's going to happen in a mystery, there's not much more mystery to it, is there?)
But, like the first time: it was a page-turner, and I loved it. 
You will too! Try it out.

The game was fun but I wished the readers could play along and figure out the clues while reading. I guess the clues hidden in an American song played a factor in the confusion because as a non-American, I didn't get the song reference to unlock the answer to the clues. I was like Mrs. Hoo who felt excluded in the game just because I couldn't relate. It was still enjoyable to read, especially halfway when the connections were slowly being revealed.

Naomi P

I would recommend you this book ONLY if I didn't like you and wanted to ruin your weekend. I just wanted it to be over, I didn't care who won. 

Jovana Gjekanovikj 

Jeff James

This was one of my favorite books when I was a kid. I have very strong memories of reading and re-reading it, even if the details of the book slipped my memory after more than two decades. The only thing that stuck with me was the reveal at the end of the book, so re-reading it this time was like uncovering buried memories. The audiobook version also gave it a new dimension that I never experienced as a kid. One thing that surprised me about this book is that the adult characters get as much stage time as the teenage girl who would be the more traditional YA heroine these days. This book doesn’t talk down to kids, if only because there’s so much going on thematically that the story works on multiple levels. It’s also held up very well despite being published in 1978.

Ryan LaFerney

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, a story about would-be heirs competing for a fortune, is a classic comedic mystery novel. Many folks think that Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game is one of the most perfect books ever written, and I'd have to agree that it is absolutely a modern classic of not only children's literature (it won the Newberry Medal) but of the mystery genre.

The Westing Game is an exciting, gripping, and surprisingly deep whodunit about eccentric millionaire Samuel W. Westing, who has gathered 16 potential heirs to his $200 million estate to compete in a mysterious game to discover who among them murdered him. Sam Westing has invented a game for his heirs, and only the one who solves it gets the money. 

While the mystery at the core of The Westing Game is intriguing, the characters are the ones who make this story (this book had to have influenced Rian Johnson's Knives Out)! Raskin's fills her story with a diverse assortment of misfits, each with their own mysterious connection to Sam Westing. And the ending! The ending consists of essentially three codas, that tie up the loose threads of the plot and explains where all the characters ended up. To say anything else, would be to spoil the plot of this wonderful, smart, and snarky book.

The Westing Game is quietly subversive —there’s stuff about labor unions, racism, classism, feminism, immigrants, prejudice. I think it mostly stands up to the tests of time. However, I think there are some outdated terms. But it's still a great read regardless!

I’m not sure that I can say anything about this book that would not spoil it. I genuinely struggled with getting into this book and I struggled to keep all of the characters straight but around the 1/2 way mark, this book got its claws into me. Stick with it to the end. It’s worth it. 

Justin Ferrell

Connor 

linda

Emma

Carino. Bell'indagine non l'avrei mai detto. Lettura veloce e semplice. Forse l'unico problema è che in alcune parti mi sono un pochino persa per come cambiava ambientazione e personaggi in un paragrafo. 
stelle: 4- (3.75)

Lauren Tabor

The first time I read this book I was in 6th grade and I remember loving it! I think this is one of the first books that got me into mysteries. It's a classic who-dun-it situation and I remember it being everything. I found it on audio and decided to see if it lived up to my 6th grade standards....and maybe I was a lot smarter in 6th grade because I could not keep up with this. Maybe it's because it was on audio, but holy smokes. There were 5 billion characters to keep track of and by the end I still couldn't remember all of their names and who they were related to or what their job was or anything. I also did not understand the end??? Am I being punk'd?? This is a children's book and I was so confused for the entirety of this! hahahaha I mean, I guess it's still good. It doesn't really taint my love that I had for it 20 years ago. (even though there were quite a few questionable things in this book regarding race and disability that I guess I didn't understand at a 12 year old).
I mean, it's fine...do I feel kinda dumb? Yes. but life goes on.

anessa lawrence 

now i remember why i loved this book when i read it in elementary school

Celeste Richardson

Full review now posted!

What a fun little mystery! I really thought that I had read this before, when I was still in elementary school, but I remembered nothing about it. Somehow, Raskin managed to endow this children’s novel with more mystery than the vast majority of adult novels in the genre. For one thing, this didn’t read as a children’s book. Raskin seems to have been a firm believer in not talking down to children, which always makes for a much better children’s author. 

There were aspects of the mystery that I had no problem guessing, but there were more than a few that were a complete surprise to me. I loved how multifaceted the mystery of Sam Westing was, and how people struggled with how much to trust their neighbors in their shared search for the truth. For a book that is less than 200 pages long, it packed quite a punch. There was never a dull moment, and even though it was first published in 1978, it very rarely felt dated. There were a few moments of racism and sexism that were signs of the times, but other than that and some outdated technology, this book held up incredibly well forty years later.

This was an interesting, eclectic cast of characters. There was no true main character, although I suppose Turtle comes close. Instead, we had less than twenty characters, but all of whom were focal characters with great import to the plot. Every tenant of a small apartment building is somehow involved in the Westing Game, and every single one of them is determined to prove themselves worthy of the massive inheritance that serves as the Game’s prize.

I don’t know how I missed this book as a kid, because I would have loved it. Thankfully, I found it pretty great even as an adult. I highly recommend this book to anyone with a precocious, intelligent kid, or any adult who embraces their inner child and enjoys a good mystery.

For more of my reviews, as well as my own fiction and thoughts on life, check out my blog, Celestial Musings.

Tameka Young

I really wanted to like this book. I'm just sad that I didn't. By the end of it, I didn't care who won the bleeping game.

Kim Tyo-Dickerson

So many moving pieces, thoroughly enjoyable mystery that I will need to read again just to catch all the pieces as they unfold.

Brigid Hogan

August Bacon

I adore this book! My English teacher way back when I was in 7th grade like In 2009 read a chapter of this book to us everyday in October and I loved it so much I went to the library and checked it out myself because I couldn’t wait for the ending! I forgot about this book for years but I actually tracked down my English teacher when I was older so I could find it again and i still read it at least once a year! 

It’s very silly very mysterious and a fun puzzle to solve I’ve read it so many times now but I still get surprised on some details! It’s so much fun the ending is so good and it’s one of my favorites!

Caroline Lewicki

This was a fun, kid's locked-room mystery! It had some interesting twists and turns. The thing I didn't love and attribute to this being an older book...there was a lot of dated language and some oddly racist comments and situations. Just be aware if that's something that would turn you away from a book.

The Westing game

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