The Westing Game

It had been several years since I had read this book the first time, but I enjoyed it immensely then, and was equally captivated by it this weekend. In the 1979 Newbery Winning book The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, you have the opportunity to solve a mystery - who is the rightful heir to the Westing Fortune?

If you love puzzles and mysteries, you will absolutely love this book, and if you don't, you will absolutely love this book. It is an intriguing story of a hodge-podge group of people, all living in the same new apartment building, who find themselves listening to a dead man's will and being challenged by him to find his murderer.

Old Man Westing has left all kinds of clues for them to decipher. The occupants of Sunset Towers naturally begin to suspect each other. Only the true heir will be able to figure out the mystery. The question is: Can you unravel the mystery before the heir does?

In many ways, the book reminds me of another one in which you try to solve a mystery with clues you are given in the story - Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett - but that's another review! Over and over again, the heirs need to remind themselves of what was in the will: "It's not what you have that's important. It's what you don't have." Well, I think you will still be surprised when you get to the end. You may have been able to figure out some of the answers, but there are others that I'm sure will elude you until the conclusion!

This is one of the books I recommend to my students who aren't really crazy about reading. I think it keeps your attention, doesn't get too heady, and is a quick read. I'd love to hear what others think about it!