Born in 1928, Ellen Raskin was a prolific writer and illustrator who is best known for her Newbery Award-winning novel The Westing Game.
Hailing from Milwaukee and spending her infancy suffering through the Great Depression, Raskin and her sister would entertain themselves by inventing characters and roleplaying as them for weeks at a time. Her imaginative and artistic prowess won her a place at the University of Wisconsin, where she majored in fine art.
Moving to New York, Raskin established an impressive career as a commercial artist, designing over 1,000 book covers including the dust jacket for the first edition of Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time.
Before long, Raskin began writing and illustrating her own novels for children and young adults. Specialising in lighthearted mysteries, Raskin is remembered for her unpatronizing approach to plot, developing intricate stories that challenge readers. Her most famous novel, The Westing Game, which features sixteen protagonists, continues to be taught in high schools because of its focus on character analysis and emphasis on critical thinking to solve the mystery.
Raskin died in 1984, making The Westing Game the last of her sixteen novels. But she left young readers a timeless legacy: in 2012, The Westing Game was ranked number nine in the top 100 chapter books of all time by the School Library Journal.
