# The Westing Game

**Author:** Ellen Raskin
**Lexile:** 750L
**Grade range:** Grades 4–8
**Age range:** 9–13
**First published:** 1978
**Page count:** 192
**Genre:** Middle Grade Mystery
**ISBN-13:** `9780142401200`
**ISBN-10:** `0142401206`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/the-westing-game
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

Sixteen heirs are summoned to claim the fortune of eccentric millionaire Samuel Westing, but only by solving the puzzle of who killed him. Newbery Medal winner 1979, the book is a longstanding fixture of 5th-7th grade ELA for its tight plotting, multiple-perspective structure, and accessibility as an introduction to mystery as a literary form.

## Themes

- mystery and deduction
- identity
- community
- puzzle solving
- found family

## Content notes

- off-page death
- mild peril

Common Sense Media age recommendation: 9+

## Where this book is assigned

### Common Core State Standards (ELA)

- **required** · 5th grade — [source: CCSS ELA grades 4-5 Newbery Medal mystery exemplar](https://achievethecore.org/page/2699)
- **recommended** · 5th grade · Illinois — [source: IL ELA grade 5 — Chicago-set Newbery winner](https://www.isbe.net/)
- **recommended** · 6th grade — [source: CCSS ELA grades 6-8 mystery genre exemplar](https://achievethecore.org/page/2699)

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