Author: Ellen Raskin
Plot
Imagine receiving an invitation to play a game with fifteen strangers. Not interested? How about $10,000 upfront to come play? The stakes you ask? $200 million if you win and ownership of a very successful paper products company.
Alright, what's going on here? Rags-to-riches millionaire Sam Westing has died and left a very unusual will (as you might have guessed). Sixteen potential heirs are gathered at the Sunset Towers apartment building to play a game, a puzzle of head-scratching confusion. The potential heirs are an odd bunch themselves, including a not-so-perfect family, a judge whose education was paid for by Westing, Doug Hoo a track runner (who could care less about the game), and an outwardly stupid delivery man. As the game progresses the mystery deepens - who exactly was Sam Westing anyway?
Brian's Opinion
One of my favorite Newbery Medal books (1979). The characters are brilliantly done, and the complicated interactions between them make that aspect of the story just as intriguing as the game itself.
Who might like it
If you like to make up voices for richly-done characters as you read to kids out loud, The Westing Game would be an excellent choice. Mystery lovers will also like this book - while children's fiction, there is nothing childish about the level of mystery presented.
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