The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

"Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?" This is the ad that catches the eye of many children who then go to take a series of test to determine if they are the right child for the "special oportunity". When the final children are selected they band together and form the Mysterious Benedict Society. The Society is called upon to complete a dangerous mission and they are off for a great adventure.

Youngest devoured the book (485 pages!), then I read the book, then Bookworm read it too. It had mass appeal in the RoundFile family. Although Bookworm did sort of sniff and say, "It was OK." I thought it was much better than OK. It reminded me of Harriet the Spy mixed with Roald Dahl. The idea of the independent adventure as a child is so intoxicating. I can remember daydreaming that the president would recognise what an outstanding girl I was and grant me special permission to drive even though I was only 10 or 11 years old. I would lay in my bed and imagine how I could put a door to the outside in my room and redecorate it like an apartment and pretty much just visit my family as needed since I would be off - out the new door, driving the special car - to do exciting things. So you can see why this book appealed to me!

I liked that the children who "passed" the tests weren't all just smart, brainy types. One of our greatest blessings in life is that each of has gifts to share with the world. But some gifts are more easily recognized and rewarded than others so if your child's gift isn't in acaddemics or sports but is more ethereal like faith or kindness or creativity, this book show them how the differnet children each used their own strength for the group to succeed.

This book counts for two challenges...

This is one of the books on my list for the Spring Reading Thing 2009. Click on the logo to see the rest of my list.






Click here to see my progress towards completing the challenge!