„It is the book that lives not the author.‟
-Ellen Raskin
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Ellen Raskin was born on March 13, 1928 in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She grew up during
the Great Depression and she had to come up
with plays to entertain her family. She also
often read books from the library.
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Ellen Raskin is a mystery book writer and she
has won a Newbery Medal for her mystery
book, The Westing Game. However, Raskin is
not just a mystery book writer; she is also an
illustrator of children‟s books.
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Ellen Raskin has taught many college classes
in illustrating. She has taught at Pratt
Institute in 1963 and Syracuse University in
1976. She was also a guest lecturer at the
University of Berkeley in 1969, 1972, and
1977. Sadly, Raskin died on August 8, 1984
from a connective tissue disease in New York,
NY.
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The Westing Game is about 16 heirs of Sam
Westing (a millionaire) competing to win his
estate worth $200 million. Sam Westing was
mysteriously murdered. In order to win his
estate they have to play the Westing Game.
The Westing Game‟s purpose is to figure out
who murdered Sam Westing, but the heirs
soon find out that there‟s more to the
Westing Game than that. This book is an
interesting mystery involving danger, clues,
and murder!
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Raskin‟s Newbery Medal winning book, The
Westing Game, was based in her home state,
Wisconsin. She got her inspiration for the
book from a news report on TV. It said that
an infamous millionaire had died and
everyone was trying to get into his will. She
had also cut up the words to “America the
Beautiful.” This was a great and interesting
start to her mystery book, The Westing Game.
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The Westing Game, 1978
Twenty-two, Twenty-three, 1976
The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues, 1975
Figgs & Phantoms, 1974
Franklin Stein, 1972
The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean
Noel), 1972
The World‟s Greatest Freak Show, 1971
A & THE; or, William T. C. Baumgarten Comes to
Town, 1970
And it Rained, 1969
Ghost in a Four-Room Apartment, 1969
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Raskin, Ellen. The Westing Game. New York: E.P.
Dutton, 1978.
UXL Junior DICovering Authors. “Raskin, Ellen
(1928-1984).”
http://find.galegroup.com/scrx/infomark.do?&so
urce=gale$srcprod=UXL&userGroupName=ddea
hq&prodld=JRCtabID=T001&docld=EJ211010034
8&type=retrieve&contentSet=GSRC&version=1.0,
November 13, 2012.
Compton‟s by Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica
Online School Edition. “Raskin, Ellen.” (Online)
Available
http://www.school.eb.com/comptons/article9313143, November 26, 2012.
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“Ellen, Raskin.” The New York Times. August 10,
1984.
“Ellen Raskin.” (Online) Available
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/10/obituaries
/ellen-raskin.html, December 2, 2012.
“Books Written and Illustrated by Ellen Raskin.”
(Online) Available
http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/authors/ras
kin/bib.htm, December 3, 2012
http://teacherweb.com/ME/MAMS/library/gallery
5.aspx?print=true, January 4, 2013
http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/authors/ras
kin/main.htm, January 4, 2013