A Puzzler that Satisfies

The Westing Game was undoubtedly my favorite book as a child. I can still remember the author's intricately planned course of action spreading out like a treasure map in my young mind the first time I opened the book. I'm not certain if it was my first mystery, but it was the best I'd read up to that point - strangers summoned to an eerie mansion in order to get their just desserts only summarizes the basic framework of the plot.

Enough details and interesting twists are woven into the story by the author to make The Westing Game as colorful as a quilt. To boot, the novel contains a spunky young female, Turtle, for whose success at the actual "Westing game" I can remember crossing my fingers more than once.

As soon as I closed the book, the secret behind the eccentric old coot Westing having been revealed, I felt compelled to reopen it and read it a second time, which I did that very same summer. The Westing Game was one of those novels that was a joy to reread simply because of how well it all tied together. Parents who want to encourage an inquisitive, challenge-loving young reader should definitely add The Westing Game to their child's summer reading list.