The Westing Game

The Westing Game. by Ellen Raskin. (1978). 182p. New York: Penguin Group.

Awards and Honors: Newbery Award

Review: 
A challenging and innovative novel for tweens, The Westing Game is an intricate "murder" mystery featuring upwards of 20 characters. Sixteen heirs are chosen to live in the newly built Sunset Towers which lies across Lake Michigan from millionaire Sam Westing's home. When Westing dies, the heirs are summoned to the home to hear his last will and testament. The will pairs them up into teams and plunges them into a competition to solve the mystery of Westing's death.

Opinion:
The Westing Game is original and interesting, though with so many characters it's hard to feel a solid connection to any of them. It can also be difficult to keep up with the plot, so I'd probably recommend this book for kids on the older end of the tween spectrum as younger, less experienced readers may be frustrated by the twists and turns.


Ideas:
The Westing Game is a solid addition to bibliographies of mystery books for tween readers.