The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

216 pages

"A bizarre chain of events begins when sixteen unlikely people gather for the reading of Samuel W. Westing's will. And though no one knows why the eccentric, game-loving millionaire has chose a virtual stranger--and a possible murderer--to inherit his vast fortune, one thing's for sure: Sam Westing may be dead...but that won't stop him from playing one last game!" -Back Cover

{SPOILERS}

I read this book (which won the Newberry Medal) probably in junior high but couldn't remember much of it so I thought it was time to read it again. It's a good little mystery. Sixteen people are brought together and invited to live in Sunset Towers, an apartment building in the shadows of Westing House. After seeing smoke coming from the chimney of the house, which has supposedly been vacant for years, the teenagers of Sunset Towers become curious and stage a late-night run to the house. Turtle Wexler is dared to go in the house and offered money for each minute she stays there. What she discovers is Sam Westing's dead body lying in his bed. Shortly after, the sixteen are invited to a reading of Westing's will and invited to play a game with the winner inheriting Westing's vast fortune.

The sixteen people are paired off and given clues that will help reveal the murderer's identity. They become suspicious of one another and somewhat paranoid. Then someone starts setting off bombs around the Towers. (Which, once the identity of the bomber is discovered, was the only part of the story I didn't think was explained very well. It didn't really make sense why that person would plant bombs.) The puzzle part of the story was fun--the reader could play along and try to figure it out, too. Any reader will probably be able to figure out that Sam Westing might not actually be dead and he's also not vindictive. Each of the sixteen people's lives are changed for the better as a result of playing The Westing Game.

8 O'Clock Club Read: Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

351 pages

"For centuries, mystical creatures of all description were gathered to a hidden refuge called Fablehaven to prevent their extinction. The sanctuary survives today as one of the last strongholds of true magic in a cynical world. Enchanting? Absolutely. Exciting? You bet. Safe? Well, actually, quite the opposite...

Kendra and her brother, Seth, have no idea their grandfather is the current caretaker of Fablehaven. Inside the gated woods, ancient laws give relative order among greedy trolls, mischievous satyrs, plotting witches, spiteful imps, and jealous fairies. However, when the rules get broken, an arcane evil is unleashed, forcing Kendra and Seth to face the greatest challenge of their lives. To save her family, Kendra must find the courage to do what she fears most." -Dust Jacket

I read this book to my 10- and 8-year-old for our "8 O'clock Club". It took us a few months but I was surprised at how well they could remember what had happened the night before, or sometimes several nights before, because we don't always read every night. As I was reading it out loud I noticed that Brandon Mull uses quite an advanced vocabulary for a kid's book. As an adult you don't really notice, and it makes it more enjoyable, but reading it to young kids I wondered how much of it they could understand. There were a lot of words they didn't know but it didn't hinder the understanding of the overall story. They both loved the book and want me to read the rest of them. First, though, we're going to read about Milton Hershey. I don't think they're very excited about that. They should be. We support the Hershey family nearly every day.

Seeds of Rebellion by Brandon Mull (Book 2 of Beyonders)

483 pages

"Jason Walker needs to find a way back to Lyrian. Rachel remains stranded there, and Jason has precious information that the friends he left behind must learn in order to have any hope of surviving and defeating the evil emperor Maldor.

When he finally succeeds in returning to the strange and imperiled world, Jason immediately finds himself in more danger than ever as the most wanted fugitive on the continent. Meanwhile, Rachel has begun to discover new abilities of her own that may prove vital against Maldor's tyranny.

In the aftermath of a failed quest, a new mission arises--to assemble the remaining heroes of Lyrian. Can the necessary allies be convinced before the emperor crushes the young uprising? Jason, Rachel, and their band of battered heroes will face new enemies and demanding obstacles as they strive to launch a desperate rebellion." -Dust Jacket

{MINOR SPOILERS}

This is the second book in the trilogy and, as is typical of middle books, it's the filler. That doesn't mean it's not a great read--in fact that are a lot of deep life-lesson tidbits that bring quite a bit of depth to this story--it just means that you get a lot of traveling around, small adventures, and collecting/preparing the necessary people for the third book where you will get the real confrontation between Maldor and Galloran and company. (My money's on Galloran. He's Beyonders' Aragorn.) My problem was that I haven't read the first book since last year when it first came out and I've read a lot in between. I couldn't remember specifics about some of the characters and it made it hard to follow along for the first half of the book. I kept thinking that maybe I should stop and re-read the first book again. I still think I should do that and then read this one again.

I've said before that Brandon Mull is one of my favorite authors because I really like him as a person. He's also a good writer and only getting better I think. Fablehaven was great, but I think I like this one better. Brandon is skilled at writing likable characters, but also characters that are rich and multi-faceted. He always has at least one character that provides comic relief and Ferrin does that in this series, but he and Jason have a very enlightening and serious conversation that really showed, in a rather heartbreaking way, the internal struggles that afflict Ferrin. He's not just all jokes and removable body parts. He is genetically-engineered to serve Maldor. That's why the displacers (his race) were created. He has grown so accustomed to using and betraying those around him. It's so second nature to him that you really feel like he doesn't know whether or not he will be true to Galloran's cause or whether or not he even believes in it. I think he will have a significant part to play in the conclusion of this story.

Brandon Mull is also great at creating fantasy characters. There are some good ones in this book--the worm zombies, the tree people, the drinlings and of course the people of the seed. This book ended with the oracle's prophecy about the outcome of the rebellion and I like the direction Mull appears to be going with it. There is some foreshadowing that several of the main characters will have some hard times ahead in the fight against Maldor. While I've grown to love each character, I also think that a true, classic story of good versus evil never ends with all the good guys surviving. War means sacrifice and doing hard things. That's what defines bravery and these characters are plenty brave. I fully expect to cry in the third book...next spring!



*During that long wait there are some good books coming out: Insurgent, a sequel to Divergent, my favorite dystopian novel of last year, City of Lost Souls, which is a guilty pleasure 5th book in The Mortal Instruments, and The Drowned Cities, a companion book (not necessarily sequel?) to Shipbreaker, not my favorite book because I felt like it fell short of its possibilities but with enough promise that I'll probably read this other one.