Saturday, April 14, 2012

The Mysterious Benedict Society: Are you special too?

The Mysterious Benedict Society
By Trenton Lee Stewart, Illustrated by Carson Ellis
Hardcover, 492 pages
Little, Brown and Company, March 2007

Dozens of children respond to this peculiar ad in the newspaper and are then put through a series of mind-bending tests, which readers take along with them. Only four children-two boys and two girls-succeed. Their challenge: to go on a secret mission that only the most intelligent and inventive children could complete. To accomplish it they will have to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules. But what they'll find in the hidden underground tunnels of the school is more than your average school supplies.

If you have the attention span for this book, this is a worthwhile read. You'll be eating it for a while-it is almost 500 pages. I've seen this book before on goodreads.com, but wasn't quite drawn to it. Maybe it was the cover. I think I just wasn't ready for it at the time. (Though I do really love the drawings and there's a different drawing for each chapter as well.)


Then while waiting at the library waiting as my daughter played on the computer I opened the book and started it. My feast had begun.

I thought the book was very well thought out. And there's just something about being a really smart kid that captures my attention. (Not that I was super smart...or super not smart!) But we have smart, lonely kids, that come together and kick butt. 

I could tell that the author put much thought into the little details and made sure things were wrapped up nicely at the end. There wasn't really a cliffhanger, but room to grow-as shown by the amount of books there are now out in the series-FOUR. 

I enjoyed learning the details about these four kids and their different strengths, but being able to still work together.

And I LOVED the ending with Constance. I even had to tell that part to my husband. I hope you'll read it too.

Content Advisory: kidnapping, children poisoning an adult, adoption,

Rated: 5 Bites If you dare take the challenge of this large feast, I hope you will be filled as I was.

To read the whole book online click below for link.



Luckily for you, you can read the whole book online. Or buy from amazon for your kindle for 99 cents. Book 4 came out April 10, 2012-so get chomping.







4 comments:

Stephanie said...

This sounds like a really interesting book! Thanks for reviewing it!

Tam Tam said...

You're welcome! It's a great book!

Denise Z said...

Wow, I am pleasantly surprised about this book. It sounds really good. Thank you for sharing today.

Tam Tam said...

It is a very thought out book! I hope you'll give it a try!