How do librarians decide what children's book they want to read next? Well, there are professional reviews, online reviews, and good old-fashioned word of mouth. And when it came to "The Mysterious Benedict Society", I picked up this 486-page tome, turned it about, and then needed a quickie confirmation from somebody as to whether or not I should shell out a significant portion of time to read this puppy. As it happened, a librarian I knew and trusted assured me that it wasn't all that good and More...

I appreciated this book at 500 pages, but would've been REALLY fond of it at only 250. Remove some plod-along-ploddy sections and tighten up a few narrative side tracks and I think you have yourself a big winner for both YA's and those YA at heart.

Ignoring the size for a moment (yes, yes, it matters and we will return to it)...this is charming, smart, well-written story that had me thinking Dickens for Kids based on its engaging yet restrained prose style. It has that cozy feel of well-mannered More...

There's something a bit Roald Dahl-ish about this book in that it has a fairly preposterous story (children infiltrating an institute run by an evil genious baddie, to thwart his plan to take over the world), and a rather light tone. Yet it's also not quite Dahl-ish in a couple ways; despite the evil genious plot the book is permeated with a sense of kindness and is full of deeply nice people (which is good). It's also long and rambling (less good). Dahl could have wrapped the story up neatly an More...

What a delightful story! It was very difficult to choose a shelf for this book - it's not truly fantasy, but its not just adventure or mystery either. Perhaps a little Sci-Fi more than fantasy? Well, anyway, it was a wonderful book about four children who agree to help save the world. It sounds a little over-done, I know, but it’s really quite sweet and charming. Well-written and with loveable characters and a kindness throughout the book I was enthralled from the first page.
The book isn’t incr More...

In the Mysterious Benedict Society, four children with four different problem solving skill sets come together to solve a mystery. Those four children consist of the reader, who has the amazing ability to memorize things; the engineer, who has the amazing ability to create anything to solve the task at hand from materials she carries with her; the baby, whose chief attribute is to be unpredictable and not listen to the rules much less follow them; and the professional puzzle solver, who looks at More...

"The Mysterious Benedict Society" owes a large debt to Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events. It is written in the same Dickens-meets-Roald-Dahl style (although it does emphasize Dahl's whimsy over Dickens' occasional bleakness). It features an oddball cast with a broad spectrum of eccentricities and unique physical features. The plot even centers around a group of kids from orphanages attempting to foil the dastardly plans of a villain who seeks to exploit them in his mad quest for domi More...

I'VE FINISHED THE BOOK: My initial impressions (and review comments) were overwhelmingly enthusiastic. I admit that the second half of the book did not quite live up to my hopes/expectations but I'd still give the book four stars overall (five stars for the beginning--see comments below). I felt that the second half of the story (once the children officially embark on their mission and become The Mysterious Benedict Society) was not as captivating, mainly because I found a great deal of the char More...

This isn't a bad read for the YA market. The premius is one that I liked but I wonder if kids can follow it (any more). Yes I know...I sound condescending, sorry. The book's protagonists are gifted kids who aren't really interested in TV and think for themselves...wow, if only. They love "truth" (that has become a somewhat flexable word of late).

All kidding aside a nice book. Books where the "outsider" kids are the heroes (like this one)are much more common now. I suppose some of that might be More...

What a treat this book was to read! I thoroughly enjoyed it -- the kids were great, the villain and his heinous plot were quite terrifying, and the plot clipped right along. My one small reservation is that somehow I find I am in no rush to read the sequel -- yet this might have simply to do with the fact that the story did clearly end (unlike, say, THE HUNGER GAMES). But basically, I'd recommend MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY to anyone. I plan to give my copy to a bright 11-year old girl I know. More...

This is by far the best YA novel that I have read since the Harry Potter books. Characters are great, thoughtful and like nothing I have read before. Even though this book is almost 500 pages long, I have been reading it aloud to my class and they are loving it! Every day I come into class they are asking if we get to read it for the day. I can't wait to get the second one.

Enjoy!

Reynie, Kate, Sticky, and Constance are four very gifted children with a mission. They call themselves The Mysterious Benedict Society and together they have to infiltrate the nefarious Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened - a psuedo-school run by the evil Mr. Curtain. It's up to these four disimilar and intrepid kids to save the world and of course they are completely up to the task.

I thnk this book will have broad appeal to under-12s. The length of the book threw me off - it was so long More...

Trenton Lee Stewart seems unafraid to pick up a few children’s lit archetypes: four remarkable and lovable children (albeit one slightly less lovable than the others), missing parental figures, the kind male guardian, the boarding house/ evil school scenario, and themes of mind control and world domination. But within the archetypes, Stewart creates his own brand of magic. One becomes fond of Reynie Muldoon’s human perception, Sticky Washington’s nervous glasses cleaning habit, Constance Contrai More...

Four brilliant orphans are recruited by a Mr. Benedict, who needs their help to discover who is behind a plot to rule the world. The best thing about this book are the logic puzzles the kids have to solve to get invited into the Benedict Society - readers can figure out solutions at the same time the characters do. I really found myself rooting for those plucky orphans, each with their own unique personalities and skills. Go orphans! Save the world!

I kept seeing this book pop up in the bestseller list on Amazon. The title was intriguing, as was the beautiful cover art. I picked up the paperback at Target and decided to dive into this New York Times bestseller.

I've read that this book is often compared to Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, but I've never read any of those. So I had no frame of reference and no expectations when reading the book.

The Mysterious Benedict Society follows the adventures of four children, who are al More...

I've been reading the Harry Potter series with my older kids, and I started this book looking for another children's series that I could devour. Unfortunately, this wasn't it for me. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy this book. I did! It was creative and clever. But I never felt like I just couldn't put the book down. That being said, though, I did look forward to reading it. It's just that I felt like I could read a few chapters here and there, and be satisfied for the time being. I suppose More...

I've been meaning to read The Mysterious Benedict Society for ages -- since all three of my girls have enjoyed it. It's a book for children, but at nearly 500 pages, not for the faint of heart. It reads easily and quickly though, and is full of enough adventure to entice most any child (or adult, for that matter).

The society is made up of 4 kids, each of whom answered a newspaper ad asking, "Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?" Each of the 4 is gifted, but each in their own More...

I'm reading this one aloud to my boys (5 and 7) they are loving it so far. We are about 2/3 of the way through. The first half was excellent. The characters aren't as developed as I would like and the overall plot is dragging a bit right now. But the kids are still captivated. GREAT MORAL LESSONS for kids here; think honesty, good sportsmanship, and especially integrity.

Update: The boys loved it. Both boys gave the book five stars. I gave it three. It got off to a roaring start, excellent charac More...

Saya paling suka bagian awal buku ini, ketika anak-anak cerdas itu harus menjawab dan memecahkan berbagai teka-teki sebelum dinyatakan lulus dan kemudian menjadi anggota Persekutuan Misterius Benedict. Tapi setelah itu pikiran saya mulai melayang ke mana-mana alias nggak fokus saat mencoba mengikuti jalan ceritanya sampai habis. Banyak penjelasan yang membingungkan tentang otak, pikiran bawah sadar dan sebagainya. Waduh, sulit banget sih misinya :P

Di tengah jalan, membaca tentang institut khusu More...

What a total romp of fun, mystery and adventure, one of the best kids books besides Harry Potter that I've read in a long time!

Basically it’s about four gifted and talented children being secret agents. With the help from Mr. Benedict, a genious old man with narcolepsy, they go to an isolated island, in which a special institute is built. Then they struggle together to solve what’s actually going on in the institute. I won’t talk more about it because this will ruin the enjoyment of the reading. However, the way Stewart builds the characters is very noteworthy. No matter how extraordinary they are, these children are st More...

I am currently reading Trenton Lee Stewert's The Mysterious Benedict Society.(view spoiler)[ I am not very far in the book, but I am at the part where the kids that were taking the special tests meet the person who made the tests. I know what you are thinking, "what in the World is he talking about!?!?!?" So I am going to back up a bit and tell you. Previously in the story there was an add in the newspaper advertising a test for gifted children looking for special opportunities. So the main character Reynie d (hide spoiler)] More...

Či už ste mladí, alebo starí príbeh štyroch veľmi nadaných detí vás chytí za srdce. Reyny, Pelendrek, Kate a Anamarie sú jediné štyri deti, ktoré prešli testom pána Benedikta. Všetci sú veľmi šikovní a všetci sú opustení. Pán Benedikt ich vysiela na veľmi nebezpečnú misiu, ktorú môžu zvládnuť len deti. A tak sa naši mladučkí kamaráti ocitnú na ostrove Sirotan vo Vzdelávacom inštitúte pre veľmi osvietených. Dej knihy je prerozprávaný z pohľadu neutrálneho pozorovateľa, pričom sa síce sústreďuje n More...

3.5 stars

Ah, I just realised I read this book :D! This brings back memories...

I read this in a bookstore in Taipei. What, the entire book? Yes. Yes, I did, all four-hundred-and-something pages of it (in two sittings though). And then neatly put it back on the shelf (which I kinda felt bad about, but in my defense I had to send boxes of stuff back home as it was, so no more room for extra's...). And I didn't get a single nasty leer from the staff either, which is a thing I love about Taiwanese bo More...

“Are You a Gifted Child looking for Special Opportunities?” reads the newspaper advertisement.

Reynard “Reynie” Muldoon, George “Sticky” Washington, Kate Wetherall (The Great Kate Weather Machine), Constance Contraire, and many other children answer “yes” to this ad and go to the specified location.

Once there they all embark on a series of bizarre tests from which only the four clever orphans–Reynie, Sticky, Kate, and Constance–emerge successful. These four solve the exams using their own particu More...

Having quit this book half-way through, you might think I dislike it. I don't. It's a great book, especially if you're, you know, between the ages of eight and twelve. But I'm not. So it felt pretty tedious (example: you know, how at the end of the first three Harry Potter books Dumbledore's all "here, let's take a two chapters to explain everything that just happened" and it feels kinda cheap because you're not braindead and all that? Well, like HP, this is a great story, but there's a wholleee More...

For those of you who don't know, my husband passed away recently. That first night without him, I stayed in the room of the 11-year-old daughter of some family friends. I had been reading some vaguely depressing novel on my Kindle prior to the news, and obviously was in no shape to go back to that, but I badly needed an escape from the overwhelming sense of loss. Fortunately, the daughter's bookshelf was crammed with children's/young adult literature, which was the perfect thing for me in my zom More...

my seven year old friend Abegale passionately loves this book. one day i said (in jest), "i've heard this book sucks" and held up this tome. her and her friend almost killed me. if they had their straight razors, i would be dead now. so, i figured i should probably read the book that almost caused my demise.

i, of course, loved it. all of the characters in this book are excellently envisioned. i love how each of the members of the Mysterious Benedict Society solve the same problem in a different More...

I just finished reading this book and I enjoyed it very much. Although the book is over 485 pages long, the chapters are short, so it's easy to read several at a time. The story is quirky and strange, and filled with riddles and puzzles - very engaging!

You'll even learn a bit of Morse code while you're reading.

In a word: ..-. ..- -.!