It’s book club Thursday once again, and we’re ready to start digging into our second book, The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. Have you all dug out your old copies or found a new copy? Awesome.
The Westing Game is a classic murder mystery with a twist. Aimed at younger readers (late elementary – early middle school), the book is both clever and charming and filled with a cast of interesting, vividly drawn characters. The story is fast-paced and peppered with clues.
I read The Westing Game for the first time in third grade as part of the summer reading program at my library, and I loved it. I’d read a pretty good chunk of the children’s section already, and I remember being absolutely tickled at the way The Westing Game played with words and ideas. It sparked a life-long love of puzzles and mysteries.
The Westing Game‘s protagonist is Turtle Wexler, fearless girl genius, and she’s way more fun than that Encyclopedia Brown fellow. In The Westing Game, she’s joined by fourteen other characters, and none of them are what they seem. (But there are clues in the parentheticals.)
In the coming weeks, we’ll be looking at all the details, much like we did with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and digging into some fun surprises along the way. We can’t book club (yes, I’m making that a verb for today) a mystery without a little mystery of our own, so we’ll also be doing a few projects that tie in with how the mystery is revealed in the book.
I’m really excited to dig into this with you all. The Westing Game has been one of my top 10 favorite books for the better part of 30 years.
BOOM!
6 replies on “Persephone Book Club: Introducing The Westing Game”
** scurries off to Chapters to buy a copy **
I adored (and still adore!) The Westing Game. When I read it as a child, I had index cards with all the clues printed out and would carry them around, trying to solve the mystery. Turtle was my HERO!
AHHH!!!! I loved (and guess I still do!) this book. I remember first reading it for Battle of the Books. I’ll have to head to my libs tomorrow to pick up a copy to reread.
This was/is one of my favorite books ever. I’m not going to have time to find and read it, but maybe I’ll keep up with the posts.
I love this book!! Looking forward to the upcoming posts!
I LOVE this book. Seriously love this book. I think it’s in my son’s room – and if it isn’t it’s still in my childhood bedroom at my dad’s house.