Book Review: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

I think that this was the very first book that my book club read, but I seemed to have missed it somehow. I can now check it off of my to read list. It is a juvenile book that was given the Newberry Medal in 1979, so it could be considered a children's classic.

I thought it was a fun little read. It is a whodunit murder mystery that lets the reader put all of the clues together and guess who the murderer might be. There are sixteen would be heirs and 220 million dollars at stake. There are bombings, and dead bodies, and poisoning? I know this doesn't seem like it would be suitable for children, but really it is very tame. It's just fun. It would be a great book for a child who is ready for something a little more involved than a Cam Jensen or a Nancy Drew book.

I guess my only critism would be that the middle was a bit slow. I thought that I had it all figured out by then and was just waiting for the end to see if I was right.

My Rating

Overall: 3 stars. A child would probably give it a higher rating though.

Objectionable Content: none