The Mysterious Benedict Society

I meant to share this lovely post with all of you last Friday. Obviously that didn't happen. Then I thought, "I'll just do it next Friday." So, obviously, I'm sharing it on Thursday. I just want to keep you on your toes.

Guys, we're only a few days away from it officially being Fall! Don't be surprised if I start sharing some Fall baking because I haven't posted any baking in awhile. Also, we're only a few days away from Hobbit Day! It's a pretty big deal. If you're a nerd. I should make some lembas to celebrate, and yes, I do actually have a go to recipe for lembas. I am one of those nerds.

So, if we were going to have an in person session of The Book Club of Destiny and you were going to bring one lovely Fall themed baked good to share, what would it be?

And now, without further ado, I give you The Mysterious Benedict Society!

Title: The Mysterious Benedict Society

Rating: 4/5

Author: Trenton Lee Stewart

Pages: 485

Genre: Children’s Fiction

Synopsis:

“Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?”

How can any child resist such a tempting newspaper ad? If they choose to participate, the must undergo a series of unusual, mind-bending tests to see if they qualify for—well, it’s not quite clear what the results will bring. Even with dozens of children showing up to complete these series of tests, only four are found worthy to proceed. They soon learn that there’s terrible danger at hand, and only they can stop it and save the world.

My Reaction:

Adventurous, intelligent, and stressing the importance of our own individual strengths, The Mysterious Benedict Society is an adventure worth embarking on.

The story holds some unique concepts and has a few twists that I didn’t see coming. Each character is individual and well crafted. They feel like children you could actually meet in real life. They each have their own strengths, weaknesses, and view points, and it’s only by working together as a team that they can complete their seemingly impossible task. This major plot point was something I thoroughly enjoyed. It reminds me that everyone has something good to provide to a situation. It was also a good reminder that we sometimes neglect to see the value or importance of an individual. Every one of our four main children are essential to success, even if they can’t always see how. It’s only in the end that we see how each of them would play a necessary part.

Full of action, adventure, and a bit of mystery, I enjoyed this story more than others that it reminded me of. The major difference is that I felt that The Mysterious Benedict Society could transition well to older readers, even adult readers, better than some others that seem to fit mostly within a certain young age range. I could see this as a fun adventure for parents and children to enjoy together.

Although there are more books in the series, I felt that this book also does well as a standalone book if you don’t quite feel like investing in a whole series at present.

Reader’s Guidance:

There is one light scuffle between one of the main characters and some other kids, but nothing major.

I wasn’t bothered by any content of the book.

Similar Books:

The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull

This story has a few more fantastical elements to it in that eating candy gives you special abilities. This is another story filled with adventure and mystery.

Next Book:

I’ve read a good handful of books by Lois Lowry (author of The Giver), but I realized there’s one on my shelf that I still haven’t read. Next up is Gossamer!