The Westing Game

BE CLASSIC with The Westing Game, introduced by New York Times bestselling author Mac Barnett.

NEWBERY MEDAL WINNER • Ellen Raskin's unforgettable, timeless classic continues to be cherished by young readers of each new generation.

A highly inventive mystery begins when sixteen unlikely people gather for the reading of the very strange will of the very rich Samuel W. Westing. They could become millionaires, depending on how they play a game. All they have to do is find the answer—but the answer to what? The Westing game is tricky and dangerous, but the heirs play on—through blizzards, burglaries, and bombings. Sam Westing may be dead ... but that won't stop him from playing one last game!


Ellen Raskin has created a remarkable cast of characters in a puzzle-knotted, word-twisting plot filled with humor, intrigue, and suspense.

Winner of the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award • An ALA Notable Book • A School Library Journal One Hundred Books That Shaped the Century

Ellen Raskin was born and raised in Milwaukee and educated at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where she majored in art. In 1966 she gave up a successful career as a freelance artist to write and illustrate children’s books. 

She was the author of several other novels, including Newbery Honor-winning Figgs & Phantoms, The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel), and The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues. She was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1979 for The Westing Game. She also wrote and illustrated many picture books and was an accomplished graphic artist. She designed dust jackets for dozens of books, including the first edition of Madeleine L’Engle’s classic A Wrinkle In Time. Ms. Raskin died at the age of fifty-six on August 8, 1984, in New York City. 

Her books are wildly imaginative, but nonetheless touch on the autobiographical. Although Ellen Raskin was never rich, she always had hope – if only the stock market had played the game.

Mac Barnett is a New York Times bestselling author of more than forty books for children, including the Jack early reader series and the Terrible Two middle-grade series and several beloved picture books, including: Extra Yarn and Sam & Dave Dig a Hole. His picture books have won many prizes, including two Caldecott Honors, three E. B. White Read Aloud Awards, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Chen Bochui International Children’s Literature in Award in China, and the Premio Orbil in Italy. Mac lives in Oakland, California.