The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Who were these people, these specially selected tenants? They were mothers and fathers and children. A dressmaker, a secretary, an inventor, a doctor, a judge. And, oh yes, one was a bookie, one was a burglar, one was a bomber, and one was a mistake. Barney Northrup had rented one of the apartments to the wrong person.

- The Westing Game

A couple of weeks ago, I started thinking about some of my favorite childhood books. These were books that I read time and time again as a kid, but I hadn't read any of them recently. This was impetus enough to take my first trip to the lovely Books of Wonder. (Don't be put off by the overly busy website; it's everything you could ask for in a children's bookstore). I bought The Westing Game, as well as From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler*.

My first concern was whether or not The Westing Game would hold up. For those of you who missed this one in your formative years, the book is a puzzle: some mysterious party has arranged for a particular group of people (described above) to reside in the newly-built Sunset Towers. Not long thereafter, local multimillionaire Sam Westing is found dead. His will names most of Sunset Towers' residents as his heirs, with the stipulation that they must discover who took his life to win the inheritance. In teams of two , the would-be heirs take their clues - words written on Westing Superstrength Paper Towels - and attempt to solve the puzzle.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. It's not quite as sophisticated as it seemed when I was a child, and its age shows a little more, too. At the time, it was the rare children's book that assumed you could handle seeing adults as imperfect - they made mistakes and had petty grievances; they could be insecure or sad or obsessive, and that was part of life. When you're still in a stage of your life in which adults are the be-all and end-all of knowledge and authority, that's almost revolutionary.

For instance, take Angela Wexler, the beautiful and well-loved bride-to-be who struggles with both her beauty and her impending marriage. I remembered finding her character and her motivations somewhat perplexing when I read as a child. Without spoiling Angela's story, I will say that, as an adult, it's easier to understand that someone could seemingly have it all and still be wildly unhappy. For a child, it's harder to grasp, but I appreciate that this did not stop Ellen Raskin from conceiving of Angela as she is. If The Westing Game had been populated with two-dimensional stock characters, the mystery could have seemed a bit gimmicky. As it is, the twisty plot and nuanced characters suit each other well. I mean, it didn't win the Newbery Medal for nothing.

I think recommending a children's book can be a bit tough. If you didn't read it as a child, I don't know if you could ever fall in love with it the same way a child does. On the other hand - why not give it a try? It's certainly a lot of fun; it would be a great airport or beach read (plus it's super slim - my version is only 185 pages, although the print is quite small).

*I re-read From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler before starting this blog, so I probably won't review it, but while reading I was struck by how influential this book possibly was to me. I mean, a girl who stays at the Met and falls in love with a statue by Michelangelo? It's possible it made more of an impression than I would have guessed.