The Westing Game - Literature Kit Gr. 7-8

Book excerpt: Unravel the secrets at the center of an intriguing murder mystery game. Activities are meant to excite students throughout the reading. Using the chapter titles as clues, predict what might happen in each one. Identify elements of foreshadowing from the novel, and imagine what will take place. Follow the clues in the story to solve the game before any of the characters. Identify cause and effect by explaining why each event happened. Keep track of the variety of characters with comprehension questions. Students will write their own prologue and epilogue at the completion of the reading. Compare two different character's perspectives of the same event from the novel. Aligned to your State Standards and written to Bloom's Taxonomy, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: The Westing Game is a Newbery Medal winning story about a group of people playing the game of who killed the millionaire. Samuel W. Westing, owner of Westing Paper Products, has died. Sixteen heirs are invited to live in the Sunset Towers apartment building. These heirs come together to read the will of the late self-made millionaire. The will challenges them to solve the murder of Sam Westing by splitting up into eight pairs. Each pair is given a set of clues and $10,000 dollars to play the game. The winner will inherit the $200,000,000 fortune and unravel the secret behind the old man's death.