The Mysterious Benedict Society

I really enjoyed the beginning of this book it was so fun getting to know the characters and their history. They all have quirky personalities that are fun. The middle of the book seems to drag and the ending is just a little too convenient. It is appropriate for a middle grade read and I think if I read this when I was younger I'd have enjoyed it more.

I thought it was a really great book. I originally even thought of reading it because one review I came across said that this might have been the next A Series of Unfortunate Events and I thoroughly enjoyed that series. I'm a fan of authors who take kids seriously than their elders usually do. I was one of those children who knew more than they should and read more than they ought to. It was the reason why I read Stephen King and VC Andrews in grade school, because the children's book authors didn't take kids seriously.

Here I am, years later, reading children's books that finally realize that kids are smarter than we think. The Mysterious Benedict Society is a smart book that is clever enough to keep you entertained but simple enough as to not scare off the reader. I think it gets this balance better than Lemony Snicket (or Daniel Handler) did, because sometimes during the Baudelaire twin's books I wanted to put it down because the formula was getting to be a bit much.

But yes, there are elements there that are very much the same. Genius children orphaned away and then called in to save the day. But, instead of Stewart dragging it out like Snicket did we instead see a book that could very well be a standalone. I'm satisfied with this book even though I know there are 2 more in the series (and indeed, I did buy all three books). It was a really fun, enjoyable read that I find if it's interesting enough to keep my attention it will definitely keep the attention of many children. Good job Stewart, I'm sure Snicket (Handler) would be proud to have his book compared to yours.

Advertisements appear in the newspaper seeking gifted children to take a test and apply for a challenge. Reynie Muldoon decides to try and, despite what he perceives as many failures, is chosen as part of a team to fight evil. Reynie and his new friends pretend to have been selected to attend a school on an island, but the school is actually a cover for a training program for the evil man who wants to control the earth. All the twists and turns in thinking that accompany giftedness are a fun part of this story. I've held off ordering book two as it has a different author; I wonder why.

ummary: A talented quartet of children have to go to a boarding school to save the world from The Emergency. 

I have been looking for shows to watch with my kids that we all enjoy besides Bluey (the best cartoon out there right now). I saw a recommendation for the Mysterious Benedict Society on Disney+ and so we watched it together. I liked it more than my kids did. They watched, but I think it was a little bit old for them (they are 6 and 7). I enjoyed the show and by the 3rd or 4th episode (of 7), I picked up the first book in the series. The first book covers the main content of the show, although there are differences and a couple of details from later books come out in the show. (A few spoilers below.)

Mister Benedict is an eccentric genius who has recruited the four children to become students at a boarding school. The school is  run by Benedict's equally brilliant twin brother. One of the details that is different between the book and the show is that in the book both are unaware of the existence of one another until midway through the book, but in the show they grow up in an orphanage until Benedict is adopted at about the same age as the kids in the book. Benedict has a loving family and is nurtured and he then becomes a nurturing caring adult. But his brother Mister Curtain, becomes power hungry and attempts to control everyone around him. In the show, Benedict feels guilty for not doing more for his brother.

These books feels a little like a British fiction, with the boarding schools and abstracted technology that is both modern and without cell phones or the internet. Maybe it is just that the books can feel a little like a non-fantasy version of Harry Potter. Brilliant, gifted children are nothing new to children's literature. But one of the ongoing themes of the books is that these children need one another to be successful. They don't always agree, or even like one another, but their skills fit together and as they learn to trust, not only themselves, but one another, they are more successful. There is a goodness to the children. They believe in truth and so ‘The Emergency' which is concerning for everyone else hits them differently. There is a mind control device, which requires children for its use. Those that are not worried about truth are more susceptible to mind control. The children receive the mind control signals as discomfort, but it also makes them grumpy and snappish.

Any series of magnificent children requires a bit of luck and adult support. There are a couple of twists that I did not at all see coming. And the slight differences from the storyline between the book and the show make me wonder how the show will handle later books. It took me about two weeks to read the main four books in the series. There is also a prequel about Nicholas Benedict as a child which I have not read.

I was fishing around for another book to read to the kids and this one had many glowing reviews. They were pretty much hooked from the get-go. In this story four young kids answer an newspaper ad that proclaims “Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?” All four are in various circumstances in which they don't have parents around. There are two boys and two girls and they become secret agents for the kindly Mr. Benedict. Both of my kids (Luke, 9, and Kajsa, 7) would beg me to read more when it came time to wish them a good night. Luke begged to read ahead but I refused since this was our chosen read-aloud book. So, over the course of a month, I read from this nearly every night. They loved it. And at certain passages they would laugh aloud. When I finished it the other night they wanted to know if we could get the next in this series. They said we should read all of them. High praise. Kids would give it 5 stars but I don't hand out 5-star reviews willy-nilly. Nooo.

This book is a spectacular surprise, like finding a $100 steak on an all-you-can-eat buffet. It's a YA novel, but written in a way that respects young readers: it challenges them with advanced vocabulary, it trusts them to be able to follow a more complicated plot, and it actually invests in each character's story arc. I put age ranges on my reviews, and most books written for this age group have a cap on how old someone could be and still be interested in it. This book has no cap.

Plus, special mention for the illustrations. Honestly magical.

Age range: 10+
Not only are there no concerns about the content of this book, I feel like this is a valuable book to read as a child.