Saturday, April 9, 2016

The Westing Game

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin is a mystery that keeps you guessing until the last page. It is so very engaging, that I can see why it won the Newberry Medal in 1978. The story starts by introducing an array of characters who live together in an apartment building. They are all very different: a Chinese family who owns a restaurant upstairs, a wealthy doctor and his wife, a secretary who fakes injuries, and other characters-- all of whom have distinct personalities and voices that can be heard and recognized through Raskin's lovely writing style. The plot thickens when a millionaire who lives nearby is "murdered" and his will claims that one of the apartment building tenants is the murderer. The tenants are paired up and given clues to help them solve the murder, which is when the reader finds themselves bent over laughing at the characters' various antics and turning the pages quickly, hungry for more.


I would give The Westing Game to students in grades 4-9 who may need a little extra push to get reading. The mystery aspect makes this book very engaging, and it has many words that could be good for increasing a reader's vocabulary. This book could be used as a read aloud, but I would recommend that the teacher (or reader) read the book once alone before reading it aloud so that they can practice the various character voices to avoid confusion among the audience when listening to this story.
Turtle, one of the main characters, is a young female who could be described as a "tom-boy". She is wildly smart and funny. Turtle ends up proving herself to be the wisest character in the entire book, despite the fact that she is surrounded with a judge, a lawyer, a doctor, and entrepreneurs. This strong character could be inspirational to young females, especially those who feel less interested in stereotypical female notions.
One aspect of this book that I would caution readers of is that it is not always perfectly politically correct. One of the boys in the story is in a wheel-chair, and he is often referred to as an "invalid". Although I think the author did this to show some character voice and, therefore, character ignorance, it can be a little distasteful and made me cringe every time. This piece also reminds me that this book was written in 1978.

    Overall, The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin is well-worth the read.

2 comments:

  1. I'll definitely have to read this one! I love mysteries and it sounds as though this one was very well-written. The eccentric cast reminds me of a more recent book by Kate Milford, The Greenglass House. I loved the vibrancy and quirkiness of those characters as well and, although the mystery plays second-fiddle to the theme of friendship, the reader gets to learn about all the characters' histories in order to figure out why they are all at Greenglass house, and which one is after something valuable hidden there. As Greenglass House is also probably a 5th or 6th grade read, I think these two might make the start of a good text set!

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  2. I'll definitely have to read this one! I love mysteries and it sounds as though this one was very well-written. The eccentric cast reminds me of a more recent book by Kate Milford, The Greenglass House. I loved the vibrancy and quirkiness of those characters as well and, although the mystery plays second-fiddle to the theme of friendship, the reader gets to learn about all the characters' histories in order to figure out why they are all at Greenglass house, and which one is after something valuable hidden there. As Greenglass House is also probably a 5th or 6th grade read, I think these two might make the start of a good text set!

    ReplyDelete