wolftracker wrote:
Neowuvr wrote:
Veritaserum wrote:
Probably EVERYONE has read the Westing Game
Or at least most of us. They forced it upon us in language arts class last year. Ugh. It really wasn't that bad, but I really don't go for things so... thin... Oh well. It was the best of all the short books I've read so far in my lifetime, for sure.
You know how you shouldn't judge a book by its cover? You also shouldn't by its thickness.
The Westing Game is so good because it is so dense. The amount that Ellen Raskin is able to pack into approximately 185 pages (give or take 20 depending on print size and edition) is absolutely astonishing. Her ability to get everything said in the barest minimum of words creates the driving pace of the mystery and makes the book a real page-turner. I think I had read it 3 or 4 times before 8th grade because I could pick it up and read it in between larger works that weren't necessarily always as good. Often times in rating works of literature, we do give preference to "larger" books, equating number of pages with complexity of thought and characterization. This equation is not necessarily true, and authors like Raskin prove it by creating small gems that contain as much information as their thicker counterpoints without any of the filler.
For those asking for a short explanation,
The Westing Game is a mystery. The characters are invited to the reading of a will and must solve "The Westing Game," in order to claim their inheritance. The reader becomes actively involved with solving the puzzle, making it a truly engrossing work. It won the Newberry (the American Library Association's award for best young adult/children's literature) in 1979 and has been a staple of curriculums ever since.
I put upon it as what many teachers think as holes.
They want to use the book for teaching, but a majority has read it
The westing game, is described simply, and suspensely as well in Wolftrackers Post.
Its a short book, it may be a bit hard to understand, but is actually a straightforward path in the fog
Teh Awesome set my Neopets Addict
Back from V-a-c-a-t-i-o-n