1979 Newberry Award Winner

I am probably the only non-parent who pours over a homeschool catalog. I love reading the Sonlight catalog, and if I ever have kids, I will definately use their program. It's based on books -- for most subjects instead of giving kids a textbook, the required reading is through fiction and non-fiction books! They have a great selection, and I can go down the catlog and think, "Oh, that was a great book", or "I loved that book", or "That one made me cry", etc. I'm using the catalog to help formulate a wish list of books because I want to read more they think are great books for those in school.

It was no surprise for me to find that The Westing Game is reading within the Sonlight catalog. It's far fetched, but it's a wonderfully spun yarn. There is an apartment building built with certain people in mind -- all of whom may be Westing's heirs. After Westing is murdered, there is a game to see who can solve the murder and become the sole heir of the Westing Estate.

This is a wonderful book, and I don't know how I never read it when I was growing up. My guess is that our library didn't have it, as they didn't get many newer books in. (One of my favorite sections of our library was the "Childhood of Famous Americans" section, and most were the original 1950s editions.) I would have loved this book as a child, but I still liked it as an adult. As a child, the sense of wonder and "Wow! That could happen to me" would have been there, but unfortunately, that leaves when you grow up.

It's a great book, and I highly recommend it to anyone, esp. if you have children!