The Puzzling World of Winston Breen.

Berlin, Eric (author).

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Twelve-year-old puzzle addict Winston Breen notices brainteasers everywhere, even in baseball players’ uniforms or the toppings on a pizza: “The only thing better than discovering a puzzle [is] stumping someone else with it,” he says. But Winston is stumped himself when his younger sister finds a set of wooden tiles printed with random letters. Both siblings guess the tiles are part of a larger puzzle. Sure enough, they point the way to the town librarian’s inheritance, but the holders of all the other missing pieces must agree to cooperate. This ingenious novel, which conjures up Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game and good old Encyclopedia Brown, peppers a classic treasure-hunt plot with nifty puzzles—from familiar crosswords and word scrambles to number games. As one would expect from a professional puzzle creator, Berlin’s puzzles are challenging yet satisfying, but they’re also backed by a lot of storytelling flair. The author dexterously sustains the plot’s momentum while leaving kids space to work things out on their own, and he shores up over-the-top aspects with nicely delineated characters, sharp dialogue, and an exciting twist. Readers both avid and reluctant will surface from this unusual mystery with their hearts pounding and their brains limbered up for more. Recommenders wary of overeager solvers may choose to circulate the book along with printouts of the puzzles, helpfully posted on the book’s Web site.