When an eccentric millionaire dies mysteriously, sixteen very unlikely people are gathered together for the reading of the will . . . and what a wi...
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Dec 21, 2010
karen
rated it: 
this is what i am going to do: i am going to take a red panda, and i am going to learn genetics and i dunno - neuroscience. and welding. and i am going to take a little bit of my brain, and a little bit of everyone's brain here on goodreads.com (you'll be asleep, you wont feel a thing) and then i am going to moosh it all together, and put it in the brain of the red panda. and then i will have the perfect book-recommending resource. because if i had had one of these when i was little, then it wou
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23 comments
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(58 people liked it)
Jun 13, 2011
Jen
rated it: 
I think I first read The Westing Game in third or fourth grade. I checked it out of a public school library in Missouri. I loved it, returned it, and checked it again a few months later on another weekly library visit. Two things: 1. Why should children only go to the library once a week? My education would have been brighter and fuller had I just stayed in the library. Other kids could have had more time with the restroom pass, but instead I hoarded that thing and sat on the white raised
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20 comments
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(19 people liked it)
Mar 20, 2008
Isaac
rated it:
I read this little book for the first time not as a child - but as an adult. I was looking for a book to kick off our Junior High book club and picked up the Westing Game to see if it might be a good place to begin.
I wish that I had found this book earlier in my life. What kid wouldn't be captivated by wonderful characters thrown together to play a game hosted by a dead millionaire? Don't get me wrong...Mr. Westing isn't a vampire or a zombie - he's just decided that his heirs need More...
I wish that I had found this book earlier in my life. What kid wouldn't be captivated by wonderful characters thrown together to play a game hosted by a dead millionaire? Don't get me wrong...Mr. Westing isn't a vampire or a zombie - he's just decided that his heirs need More...
3 comments
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(14 people liked it)
Feb 04, 2008
Book Review Team
rated it:
The Westing Game is about 16 heirs competeing for Sam's Westing's inheritance. This book is a clever mystery full of excitement, danger. and suspicion. There are 8 teams, each team has a set of clues and together they must understand them. Together you must find out who Mrs. Westing is and who killed Sam Westing. You too may strike it rich, who dares to play...The Westing Game. We really loved this book it keeps you on your toes and every little thing matters. If you like a suspenseful, excitin
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Jan 29, 2012
Tamara
rated it: 
Alright, I finally read it. The copy I read has a copyright date of 1978. So it was kind of interesting to read a book that was born the same year I was!
Amazingly, the fact that it was such an old copy was slightly distracting. The changes in stylistic trends is quite obvious. I didn't realize how much of the way I read is based on how things are organized and addressed in type and breaks and alignment.
I'm not used to reading mysteries, so for me this was a little hard t More...
Amazingly, the fact that it was such an old copy was slightly distracting. The changes in stylistic trends is quite obvious. I didn't realize how much of the way I read is based on how things are organized and addressed in type and breaks and alignment.
I'm not used to reading mysteries, so for me this was a little hard t More...
3 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Mar 02, 2009
Tricia
rated it: 
This book sounded like it would be lots of fun, and I read it hoping for a great mystery. In the end I think there were too many characters, and not enough information to make any of them seem real to me. I never really got why they were who they were, except on the most basic level. Each character was just glossed over, and even though they were described in a basic way, there was nothing to really draw me in or make me care about them.
8 comments
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(14 people liked it)
Dec 29, 2007
Jessica
rated it:
As a child, I probably read this book as many times as I watched the movie "Clue" (brilliance), and that is a lot! I loved (and still love) anything with a clever girl as a protagonist. Turtle can stand her ground among Nancy Drew and her ilk. Raskin's cast of characters feels somehow simultaneously real and fantastical, and the mystery is juicy enough to keep you hooked until the final moment of checkmate.
3 comments
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(9 people liked it)
Feb 11, 2009
Megan
rated it:
I first picked up this book in high school, if I remember correctly, from the high school’s library. I fell in love almost immediately, and when I recently saw a copy at Half-Price Books I picked it up so that I could own it.
“The Westing Game” is a wonderful, clever and engaging book. It’s a murder mystery, a puzzle, and a treasure hunt, all in one, centered around the unique cast of characters that inhabit Sunset Towers apartments. The reader essentially becomes a participant in th More...
“The Westing Game” is a wonderful, clever and engaging book. It’s a murder mystery, a puzzle, and a treasure hunt, all in one, centered around the unique cast of characters that inhabit Sunset Towers apartments. The reader essentially becomes a participant in th More...
3 comments
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(3 people liked it)
May 05, 2008
Tung
rated it:
Yes, this is a children’s book – a Newbery Medal winner from 1978. This was also my absolute favorite book from when I read it as a third grader until I was in middle school and discovered fantasy fiction. I saw it in a used bookstore and decided to press my luck and re-read it, hoping it wouldn’t disappoint me as other childhood favorites had done upon a re-reading (I’m looking at you, Hitchhiker’s Guide…). It didn’t. The Westing Game begins with sixteen seemingly random individuals invited t
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3 comments
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(5 people liked it)
Mar 01, 2008
Beth
rated it:
The writing is straightforward, but the plot is anything but simplistic. An eclectic group of persons gather for the reading of a will. Sam Westing, multi-millionaire, has a mystery for them to solve — the winner receives the entire inheritance. But what, exactly, are they supposed to discover? And, though it’s only a game (the Westing game!), is one — or more — of the heirs in real danger?
The author herself describes this as a “puzzle-mystery” in the dedication — and it truly was li More...
The author herself describes this as a “puzzle-mystery” in the dedication — and it truly was li More...
2 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Sep 10, 2007
Rhiannon
rated it:
Summary: Seemingly unrelated families and individuals receive invitations to rent in a new apartment complex. Two months later, a millionaire is found dead in a nearby house, and most of the building's residents are invited (through the dead man's will) to solve his murder for the opportunity to win his inheritance.
I was really impressed with this book - it has a large cast of characters that I found enchanting, and I felt like Raskin did an excellent job of giving all of them face More...
I was really impressed with this book - it has a large cast of characters that I found enchanting, and I felt like Raskin did an excellent job of giving all of them face More...
0 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Jan 06, 2008
Joy
rated it:
The Westing Game is one of my all-time-favorite mysteries. Mr. Westing is found dead in his mansion, and in order to win his fortune, sixteen would-be heirs must compete to win the Westing Game. Full of complexity and suspense, the plot lays all the clues before the reader but still manages to keep the solution secret until the very end. Funny and scathing in its portrayal of its characters, this is no warm and fuzzy fairy tale. In this cast of antiheroes, everyone is suspect and no one is t
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0 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Feb 03, 2009
Cynthia
rated it:
The Westing Game
By Cynthia Saravia
The Westing Game is a Thiller book. It is about the death of Mr.Westing. He has 16 people to
take his money. They are paired into groups and the group who figues out the puzzle wins
the money and his land. But what they don't know is that mr. Westing isn't actully died and
the body that Turtle saw wasn't his, it was fake, Mr.Westing is playing the part of ... and he is
in the race to what More...
By Cynthia Saravia
The Westing Game is a Thiller book. It is about the death of Mr.Westing. He has 16 people to
take his money. They are paired into groups and the group who figues out the puzzle wins
the money and his land. But what they don't know is that mr. Westing isn't actully died and
the body that Turtle saw wasn't his, it was fake, Mr.Westing is playing the part of ... and he is
in the race to what More...
Mar 13, 2008
Jennifer
rated it:
To me, this book is so my childhood. I remember reading it over and over again growing up and somehow it never got old... the ridiculous antics of the characters, which were somehow realistic despite the fact that they're obviously caricatures, the mystery behind it all, and the constants twists and turns of the plotline. And behind all of it, my joy at being able to cheer on the most obnoxious character of them all, because I connect with her. Somehow it never gets old to me, I'm still always s
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0 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Jan 21, 2011
Ruth
rated it:
I really got into this book. I was surprised at how well Raskin did at character development with such a short book and so many (16) characters. It very much reminded me of the movie Clue. I was writing down notes and trying to solve the puzzle as I went. Hahaha.
In the end, I was kinda satisfied. There were some questions that Raskin didn't even attempt to answer (I'll put them in spoilers below in case you've read the book and want to comment). The final chapter or two was too cute More...
In the end, I was kinda satisfied. There were some questions that Raskin didn't even attempt to answer (I'll put them in spoilers below in case you've read the book and want to comment). The final chapter or two was too cute More...
6 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Aug 28, 2008
Shaffleoppleplutika Xeliet
rated it:
This book is one of my all time favorites. I love the plot twists and the ending is great, although I won't spoil it for you. The characters have a lot of personality, the book is funny, and it keeps you turning the pages every time you read it. I really recommend this book to anyone who enjoys unexpected turns, mystery, and basically anybody that enjoys a good book. In my opinion, this is a must-read.
0 comments
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(4 people liked it)
Oct 28, 2008
Jessica
rated it:
Read in 6th grade. An amazing book, that I still own, that weaves a surprise ending. It's not a work of art, but the detail and the sheer complex that it's written with blew me away. Angela is that little sweetheart that everyone adores, but she has many surprises, Turtle is the cool underdog, and so on. The only thing predictable may be the result of Turtle's intellect and her crush on Ted.
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(3 people liked it)
Dec 05, 2009
seth
rated it: 
Unless you love driving chainsaws through your innards, please do not read The Westing Game. The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin, is an extremely horrible clue-chasing mystery. The books main events take place in a 5-story apartment called Sunset Towers and the Westing Estate. The book takes place in Michigan around 1975. When reading the Westing Game, it is no more fun than jumping off a cliff for fun.
Barney Northrup, a sixty-two year old salesman, is selling apartment spaces in Sunset More...
Barney Northrup, a sixty-two year old salesman, is selling apartment spaces in Sunset More...
8 comments
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(5 people liked it)
Feb 06, 2009
Tina
rated it:
There was a lot that was really cute about this book. There were some wonderful characters but there was an awful lot of them. It kind of seemed like this would be a lot for an elementary student to keep track of. And only someone REALLY smart could have figured out the mystery on their own the way the jacket suggested. We'll have to see how our girls liked it and understood it.
0 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Oct 21, 2008
Chris
rated it:
Awesome well-written children's mystery. While this book is written for and very approachable as a children's novel, it is enjoyable as an adult as well. I only discovered this book this past year and I absolutely enjoyed it. It's not as deep or thought provoking as heavier adult mysteries, but that's part of what makes it so much fun.
Read this book. You won't be disappointed.
Read this book. You won't be disappointed.
0 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Apr 21, 2008
Stephanie A.
rated it:
A dazzling, brilliant novel. It is by and large considered a "children's book" (hence the well-deserved Newbery Medal), but the ingenuity, humor, and portrayals of racial and socioeconomic diversity are notches above those of many "serious adult novels." I read it when I was eleven and will probably continue to rave about it for the rest of my life.
2 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Jan 04, 2009
Sarah
rated it:
Great story, one of the only mysteries I have ever enjoyed. It's just as good the second and third time as it is the first, maybe even better because you pick up on more of the little clues and don't get thrown off track as much. It's really meant for kids in fifth or sixth grade, but the characters are so fun that adults can have fun with it too.
Apr 01, 2011
The Book Memoirs (Elle)
rated it:
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
Original review by Kate
Publication Information: Speak (Penguin Group) / 1978 / 192 pages
Format: Paperback. Or rather, I should say, my fourth copy of the paperback?
Genre: YA (technically “middle grades”, meant for readers 7-12), crime, mystery, thriller.
Where I heard about it: In 3rd grade, while my gifted class read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, the 4th graders were reading The Westing Game. I, as only a nine-yea More...
Original review by Kate
Publication Information: Speak (Penguin Group) / 1978 / 192 pages
Format: Paperback. Or rather, I should say, my fourth copy of the paperback?
Genre: YA (technically “middle grades”, meant for readers 7-12), crime, mystery, thriller.
Where I heard about it: In 3rd grade, while my gifted class read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, the 4th graders were reading The Westing Game. I, as only a nine-yea More...
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(2 people liked it)
Feb 05, 2009
Katherina
rated it:
I loved it. You have to take notes though, otherwise nothing makes sense!
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(2 people liked it)
Jan 30, 2011
Spartan
rated it:
The Westing Game
The Westing Game is a mystery about sixteen people who are mysteriously chosen to live in the Sunset Towers apartment building in Chicago.
It turns out that they are all the heirs to millionaire Sam Westing, who was allegedly killed. The group of 16 are brought together to hear the reading of Westing’s will, which is in the form of a puzzle.
The will divides 16 people into eight pairs, each with a different set of clues as to who killed Sam Westing. Each p More...
The Westing Game is a mystery about sixteen people who are mysteriously chosen to live in the Sunset Towers apartment building in Chicago.
It turns out that they are all the heirs to millionaire Sam Westing, who was allegedly killed. The group of 16 are brought together to hear the reading of Westing’s will, which is in the form of a puzzle.
The will divides 16 people into eight pairs, each with a different set of clues as to who killed Sam Westing. Each p More...
Apr 11, 2008
Deborah
rated it:
This was a WONDERFUL, charming read. I read it to my son's 6th grade class (a very tough crowd) who actually loved it, interacted with it and begged for more books like it.
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(3 people liked it)
Apr 16, 2008
Lauren
rated it:
Mike couldn't believe I never read this as a kid... so he made me read it! I wasn't sorry. It's pretty ingenious!
0 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Aug 24, 2008
Julie
rated it:
GREAT book! Hard to keep track of all the characters at first, but what a good old (and funny) mystery.
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(2 people liked it)
