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The Westing Game
By Ellen Raskin, 1978
182 p.
RL: 5+
IL: 10-13 years old
Awards: Newbery Award, ALA Notable Children’s Book, Banta Literary Award, Horn Book Award, Library of Congress Children’s Book.
Reviews: Booklist Starred, School Library Journal, Wilson’s. On California’s Recommended Reading List grades 6-8
The Westing Game begins with 16 people from different walks of life who move into the new Sunset Towers high rise apartments. They don’t realize it, but they have all been hand selected to move in. Sunset Towers is next door to the Westing Mansion which is owned by Sam Westing, a rich industrialist. He is also the owner of the Sunset Towers.
On Halloween one tenant, Turtle, is dared to go into the Westing Mansion, where she sees a dead body. The next day she reads an obituary for Sam Westing and she- along with 15 other people, many who are residents of Sunset Towers- find out that they are heirs to the Westing Estate. At the reading of the Will they find out that Sam Westing believed he was murdered and that one of the heirs is the murderer. At the instructions of the will, the heirs are paired up, given $10,000 and 4 clues and asked to play a game to solve they mystery of Sam’s murder. Whichever figures out who the murderer is will inherit Sam’s estate of 200 million dollars.
From here the reader is taken on adventure where things are not always what they seem. Each team speeds along, interpreting their clues while trying to find out what clues the others have received. This is a great book for readers who like puzzles and well developed characters. It works particularly well in literature circles or as a classroom novel.
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler By E.L. Konigsburg
0 comments Posted by Grant Hayslip at 5:07 PM
Summary: Young Claudia, almost 12, fed up with her parents and her life, decides to run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Her younger brother, Jamie, is notorious for saving all of his allowance money and never spending it; a major reason why Claudia persuades her younger brother to join her in her flight from home.Stead, R. (2009). When you reach me. New York: Wendy Lamb Books.
Genres: Space and Time, Science-Fiction, Puzzle , Mystery
Summary: The year is 1978. Miranda is an average twelve-year-old growing up in New York City. Strange things begin to happen after she finds a note tucked into her library book from an anonymous sender. “I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own. I ask two favors. First, you must write me a letter.”
Who is this stranger that continues to send Miranda notes and predict events in her life that only she would know? Meanwhile, Miranda has to deal with a lot of personal problems: her best friend won’t speak to her, her mother is preoccupied by practicing to be a game-show contestant, and, for the first time, Miranda has a crush, but he might prefer someone else.
Throughout the story, Miranda encounters people, objects, events and information that appear random and unimportant. Suddenly, in a tragic turn of events, all of the pieces come together, and she knows what she has to do. When You Reach Me is an engaging, thought-provoking novel, and fully deserving of the 2010 Newberry Medal.
Notes:
Winner of the Newberry Medal 2010