In the novel, “The Mysterious Benedict Society,” the first of a four-book series by Trenton Lee Stewart, four unique children are faced with a mission. Their mission is to stop “The Sender” from taking over the world (as seems to be almost every villain’s wish).
The children in the story are Reynie, Sticky, Kate, and Constance. Reynie, the main character and leader of the four, is 11 years old and very clever. Sticky, also 11, is a speed reader with a photographic memory. Kate, a.k.a. the “Great Kate Weather Machine” (a self-declared nickname for Kate Weatherall that never really sticks), is 12 years old and, as a former circus performer, is extremely agile (she once stealthily tied her classroom nemesis’s shoelaces to a desk…with her toes). Constance (whose age is revealed in the book, to everyone’s great surprise) is very good at writing insulting poems and also happens to be very stubborn.
To be accepted into the Mysterious Benedict Society, each child has to go through a series of unusual tests. Once they pass, the four children are sent under cover to the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where some unusual events seem to be taking place. At the Institute, the children are secretly tasked with figuring out what’s going on at the Institute and ultimately stopping “The Sender”.
I think this book is good for ages eight and older. The book is rife with humor, some of which you may have picked up on from the fate of Kate’s classroom nemesis. It also has a great mix of adventure and logic puzzles that you, the reader, get to solve along with the team. When
intertwined with a theme of steadfast friendship between the band of children, these adventures should make anyone eager to read “The Mysterious Benedict Society”!
