The Mysterious Benedict Society
by Trenton Lee Stewart
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Book Reviews of The Mysterious Benedict Society
Book Review: The Mysterious Benedict Society
Summary: 5 Stars
The Mysterious Benedict Society, a New York Times bestseller by Trenton Lee Stewart is a great book that is a mixture of mystery, adventure, and friendship. It is a wonderful story, and good as a summer read. It is suspenseful, interesting, and it is never boring. It is a good children's read, and also good as a read aloud book, or for a book club.
Orphan Reynard (Reynie) Muldoon is living at an orphanage where his only friends are the books that he reads, and his tutor, Miss Perumal, when he sees an add in the local newspaper that states "Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?" Reynie, a very gifted child indeed, proceeds to participate in multiple strange tests, including questions like "are you brave?", and "The territories off the Naxcivan Autonomous Republic and the Nagorno-Karabakh region are disputed by what two countries?" Soon, Reynie is caught up in an adventure including a cranky girl, a strange machine, a boy who remembers everything he reads, and a strange school called the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened (or L.I.V.E.). As Reynie is swept up in the mystery of a strange machine, known as the Whisperer, he is also caught up in friendships that could last a lifetime with three other "gifted" children accompanying Reynie on his mission.
This book is very good for children from the ages eight to thirteen. It is interesting, funny, and you are able to relate to the characters well. The way that Trenton Lee Stewart weaves the story is both mesmerizing and creative. It shows kid's how important it is to have close friends, and how, in a time of need, you should always be able to turn to your peers. I was hooked from the first chapter. It is a great read.
The setting in the book is both creative, and it adds a little to the story. L.I.V.E. is situated on an island, which adds to the feel of desolation that overcomes Reynie in parts of the book. It also creates a more interesting story, and helps you visualize the book as you read it.
This book is interesting, hooks you, and creates a realistic yet interesting setting. It is a great book for children and tweens. It is a great book for group discussions, and also creates a sort of fantasy life, while at the same time it creates a very real world with the very real problems of a twelve-year-old boy. It is a wonderfully thrilling book that is filled with puzzles, clues, and laughter, memories, friends, and, of course, a sense of magic and adventure.
Book Review: charming and exciting adventure for all ages
Summary: 5 Stars
I could NOT put this book down! I'm easily above its target age group, but the good reviews here and on Amazon prompted me to pick it up, and I'll be reading the sequel soon.
There are enough reviews that include a summary of the book, so I won't babble long about it. The basic gist of it is this: four children - Reynie, Sticky, Kate and Constance - work together to solve mysteries and fight evil. Each child has a special talent, one that might not be clear at first glance, but one that makes...more I could NOT put this book down! I'm easily above its target age group, but the good reviews here and on Goodreads prompted me to pick it up.
There are enough reviews that include a summary of the book, so I won't babble long about it. The basic gist of it is this: four children - Reynie, Sticky, Kate and Constance - work together to solve mysteries and fight evil. Each child has a special talent, one that might not be clear at first glance, but one that makes each child important and crucial to the mission. It's an adventure story about four very special children - a few of whom don't see themselves very special at all - who work together for the benefit of all.
This is the author's first novel, and I'm sure there will be more. Stewart has an easy-going style that fits well with this sort of book: it's an easy read, with cliffhangers that draw you in and make you regret having to put the book down for the night, and it's fun to see the children develop as characters through their adventures. Each has a path to follow, lessons to learn, a job to do, and their bravery, intelligence, problem-solving skills, and loyalty are all admirable traits for real children aspire to. Even though I'm much older than the characters, I found it fairly easy to relate to them. It reminded me of my own childhood (which wasn't THAT long ago! ;) ) and of the adventures I often wished I'd get to go on. Children will absolutely be able to find parts of themselves within each of the characters, and find themselves drawn in and trying to figure out the puzzle for themselves. I love stories that inspire kids to do their best and that show them that they're all special and have something to offer the world. I don't even have kids, but this is definitely one I'd want them to read.
I picked up the sequel today at work because I just couldn't resist, and found myself drawn in immediately. Can't wait to get a chance to read the rest!
Book Review: Not believable
Summary: 2 Stars
Well, I've given up on this book after 100 pages. I simply can't go on. To me, for a book to be enjoyable, especially a fantasy book, it must be believable. From the outset there were too many unbelievable details that killed it for me. I'll name a few.
1) You cannot remove a sewer grate with the screwdriver of a Swiss-army knife, period. Furthermore, I doubt any twelve year old girls can even lift a sewer grate. Go and try. You'll see what I mean.
2) I don't believe that Reynie (the main character) could possibly be the only child, presumably of hundreds, who figured out the chess question. No doubt at least some of the other test-takers were truly gifted and probably chess nuts. At least one of them would have figured it out.
3) In the same vein, how on earth is it that from among all of these gifted children only Reynie figured out that the test was a puzzle? Also, the other children's reaction to the test was absurdly overblown and unbelievable.
4) I don't believe you can roll around a floor balanced on a bucket unless the bucket is of the non-conical variety. Most are conical. Also, I doubt an average bucket would support even a twelve-year-old's weight. Also, it was convenient that the handle could be "unscrewed." I've never seen a bucket with such a handle, and I'm a bit of a connoisseur of buckets.
5) If Reynie is so smart, why didn't he figure out that Rhonda was trying to fool him into cheating and was in on the test? I did, and I'm not so smart.
6) There is no reason to believe that most ventilations systems will automatically lead to the back of a house. That is absurd. Furthermore, you cannot remove the grate of an outlet from the inside without kicking it and making a huge racket, unless it is improperly installed. Of course, the very notion of crawling through a ventilation system is absurd to begin with, so I suppose this doesn't matter.
One more thing, the idea of children being disappeared is too close to the masterful "The Golden Compass" for my taste.
I could go on if I looked at the book, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head. Anyhow, I quit. I had high hopes for this book because it was a best-seller and seemed like a good premise. But missing details like this is just sloppy, lazy writing and editing.
Don't waste your money.
Andrew
Book Review: *Fantastic* Book About Friendships And Extended Families!
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved reading Trenton Lee Stewart's book THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY. It's a wonderful book filled with mystery, suspense, and adventure, and the illustrations by Carson Ellis--on the beginning page of each chapter--are charming.
Readers enter the story through Reynie Muldoon, a young orphan boy who lives at the town orphanage and has no friends. He's smart and observant and answers an ad in the newspaper looking for gifted kids who want "special opportunities." He passes a series of tests and then is put into a group of other gifted kids, who also pass the tests and who are alone or have run away from home and are outcasts, by a man named Mr. Benedict. The other kids--George "Sticky" Washington, Kate Weatherall and Constance Contraire--become a surrogate family for Reynie and for once he feels he belongs. But Mr. Benedict needs the kids to infiltrate a gifted private school to uncover the "how" of a madman who plans on taking over the world. Can these fiercely independent children learn to count on one another and help Mr. Benedict stop the plan?
The book was great and not only did it focus on how friends become families, so that even if readers are orphaned or don't have traditional parents they don't have to be or feel alone, but also how to believe in ones self even when there's no hope.
And it did so with the message hidden in the story itself. Pretty good considering that this is Trenton Lee Stewart's first children's book.
The only minor problem I had was at the end of the story where some of the parents return. I felt that doing so took a little strength away from these children who were anything but ordinary. I felt that the focus should have remained on the extended family that was created by Mr. Benedict, and then the characters would have been stronger. To me, it felt like a cope out, particularly in the case of Sticky Washington, because it seemed like Stewart was trying to give the book a "Disney" type of happy ending.
But either way it's a great book and I highly recommend it to readers of all ages. At the end there's also a sneak peek at the sequel The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey included and a fun quiz to see if readers are "Mysterious Benedict Society" material.
Book Review: Tests, Secrets and Survival
Summary: 5 Stars
There's no better place to start this review out than with the first thing you see on the back of the book:
"Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?"
Reynie Muldoon has been in an orphanage for forever. The orphanage is his home, and since he really is a gifted child and has a tutor who encourages him to apply, he does. And why not? Miss Perumal has been the only real friend and family young Reynie has ever known, and if she thinks he can do it, well, then why can't he?
Miss Perumal drops Reynie off to take the test, and in a room filled with gifted children, Reynie is the only one who passes and is instructed on how to get to the next phase and what to bring with him. Reynie experiences a series of tests that get more challenging each time. Sometimes the test is worded, sometimes it's based on your reactions to certain situations, and some of it is personal integrity. Very interesting, very mysterious, and about to become the biggest adventure in young Reynie's life.
Reynie is not the only child to have passed the test, there are 3 other children from different groups of test-takers that he ends up spending a lot of time with - why, you ask? Well to form The Mysterious Benedict Society of course!
Now, this is maybe the first quarter of the book. The rest delves into who Mr. Benedict is, why he is recruiting gifted children with a certain background into his society, why they're being sent to an island and what their mission is. Have you figured anything out yet? Oh, and then there are the people he meets and it is very interesting!
This book is an extremely quick read even though it may look a little daunting: it comes in at 485 pages, it does not lag or bore the reader. It's the exact opposite: it lures you in and you can't stop and end up staying up way past your bedtime on a work night. I'm just saying!
Notes on the Cover: I love the cover, but if it's the headquarters it looks like I pictured it, but the people are not where they should be. Once you read the story you'll understand; the people are doing things they actually do in the book, just not necessarily at their headquarters. You'll even know which character is which! If it's a building that's on the island, well, then it looks nothing like it! (Which I'm pretty positive it's not).