The Mysterious Benedict Society

This is a great book that gives classic mystery a new twist and makes it interesting not just for younger kids but for older audiences as well. Lee Stewart takes words and gives them new meaning as well as providing pictures that make the story easy to understand while also letting your imagination have go! But he doesn't even stop there; with fun-packed quizzes you can take and even your own mystery to solve, this book goes beyond others when it comes to keeping readers guessing at every turn. I would recommend this book to anyone from age 12 to 14 who wants a book that really makes you think! 5/5 stars
@C.L of the Hamilton Public Library's Teen Review Board

An exciting read especially for children, this fictional work mainly focuses on a group of four children, each possessing unique talents. Together, they form the Benedict society, and are instructed to investigate an institution. Through many attempts to expose the institution’s secrets and its founder’s motives, the Benedict society advances to the last stage of the investigation—bringing down the founder. Read the book to find out more about what happens to the four children. I liked the author’s style of delving into character details, and by the end of the adventure I felt that I had gained insight into the diverse relationships between characters. A major portion of the novel had my eyes glued to the page, especially due to the author’s incorporation of various troublesome situations for the Benedict society. These nerve wracking scenes played a major role in making the read enticing, and for me they were very effective. I would not be afraid to recommend this book to anyone, as it is appropriate for all ages of sufficient reading level.
Age rating: 9 and up

This book is about 4 child prodigies learning to be secret agents under Mr. Nicholas Benedict. I loved Mysterious Benedict Society! It was exciting, adventurous, and funny. I could really relate to the characters too. It was well written and easy to understand. Highly suggested!

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart, also the author of The Secret Keepers, is the first book in The Mysterious Benedict Society series. The book is centered around a young bright child called Reynard Muldoon, often referred to as Reynie. Reynie, an orphan living in Stonetown with his tutor, Miss Perumal, came across an advertisement in their local newspaper, calling for gifted children looking for special opportunities. Reynie decides to take the opportunity, and ends up joining a secret group led by Mr. Benedict to prevent his evil brother, Ledroptha Curtain, from creating widespread chaos by manipulating the minds of common people through televisions and radios. Reynie and his group of friends, Kate, Sticky, and Constance, infiltrates Mr. Curtain’s special school called The Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, to gain more knowledge of Mr. Curtain’s plans.
The Mysterious Benedict Society, along with the other two books, “The Mysterious Benedict Society and The Perilous Journey” and “The Mysterious Benedict Society and The Prisoner's Dilemma”, is one of my favorite series. There is also another book by Trenton Lee Stewart detailing Mr. Benedict's life as a child, The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict, that I enjoyed. I highly recommend all of the books, especially for people who enjoy Roald Dahl books, giving the series a 4.5 out of 5 stars. - Nikolai, Grade 8

My english schoolbook recommended this for me, no regrets! Hands down one of the best books Ive read this year!

book+plot= AMAZING

This book is, and indeed has been, one of my favorites for years. Its story is a captivating masterpiece of mystery and adventure, and the book itself is written with more advanced sentence structures and techniques that accentuate, but do not confuse, the plot. Any reader who's looking for a story with rich language, detailed characters, and a fantastic story should absolutely try this one out.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart is a well- written, detailed book, with an exciting plot. Four children, all with distinct unique talents, are brought together by Mr. Benedict. He has a mission for them, a mission that will decide the fate of the world. To complete this mission, they must go undercover and try to stop Mr. Curtain from brainwashing to the world. Completing this mission will require them to push themselves, for the fate of the world is in their hands. This book is remarkably well written, and though the plot lingers a bit, it is so detail-rich that it never feels boring. The plot, though complicated, is explained very well that you never feel overwhelmed. If you like mystery and adventure, this is the book for you!

A wild ride that kids, teens and adults alike will enjoy with characters, setting and story that are more than face value. It is a large book, especially for kids (at nearly 500 pages), however you will find it reads in a breeze and once you've finished it, you'll come back again and again as you just can't get enough of it. The continuing series also holds true to this.

The Mysterious Benedict Society is as mysterious as it sounds. But I still managed to get some information about the plot, the characters and the author of the book. This I will tell you during the review. The Mysterious Benedict Society was written by Trenton Lee Stewart and published in 2007. The book is very famous - Goodreads has 110000 ratings and 10000 reviews! Trenton Lee Stewart was born in 1970, May 28 in USA. But let's get into the plot! A newspaper posted a curious advertisement - someone was looking for gifted children. Those kids would have to write a test to get qualified. Reynold Munrold, an orphan, decides to go ahead and give himself a try. Apparently, he passed them all despite tough competition. Along with him, 2 more girls and 1 boy passed the tests - Kate Wetherall, Constance Contraire and George "Sticky" Washington. They all have extraordinary minds. Reynold is good at solving problems, Sticky has a sticky and an encyclopedic knowledge of many subjects, Kate is good at surviving and has practical knowledge, and Constance... Well, it is hard to explain. You will understand later in the book why she is considered so gifted. All of the kids are united with a mission to save the world against Ledroptha Curtain, a great scientist and the principal of The Learning Institute of the Very Enlightened. That is where he constructs his mind-blowing machines that erase your memory. The kids must go to the Institute undercover and with fake documents. They will become spies for Mr. Benedict while he discovers a surprising thing about Ledroptha Curtain. Which one, I will not tell you, since it is up to you to find out that. The book had some pretty good plot twists up its sleeve that made me gasp with shock. It is not very hard to read, since there are no difficult or controversial topics there. Though it is thick - 484 pages, I read it in a few days without much effort. 4/5 Stars. @readermariacom of the Hamilton Public Library Teen Review Board

Great book, cleverly crafted! I really enjoyed reading this book, and fans of "Wildwood", or mystery, fantasy, or adventure books would love this!

this book kind of reminds me of harry potter which is magical really good book recommended.

I thought this book was one of the best books I’ve ever read!!! The characters were so interesting and complex. I also loved how they were so diverse. The storyline was amazing I loved the institute and how they got away. When I read this book it was never dull it was always interesting! Trenton lee Stewart got me reading this book all night! Definitely recommend this series!!!!!!

Very nicely done. Well written and fun to read. I enjoyed that the readers could try to solve the puzzles at the same time as the characters. All the protagonists made it very exciting to read. I do wish that there were more character view changes, instead of having it mostly Reynie's. My friend recommended this book to me, and I finished it within a day.

I loved this book and wanted to disagree with an earlier comment. While I do advocate for gender equality, I don't think this book 'pretends to be feminist'. The four children are all unique and I thought the author did an excellent job of developing insightful and admirable qualities for all of them. The adult women in the book are all fantastic in a variety of ways and not props for men. If you think about the Bechdel test for example, this book would do just fine. Even though this book has complex elements that are not spoon-fed to the reader - the ominous Emergency is introduced but not explained for quite awhile - my young children (6 & 8) were not put off; they were enraptured.
The 'short' character is not to be diminished either. In life children (and adults) will meet others that they do not readily relate to or appreciate. This story unpreachily encourages us all to persevere in accepting them and looking all the more for the treasures within that may be a little more obscured.
With all the other 5 star reviews I'm sure others go into explanations of the creative and engaging writing and compelling plot, but I just wanted to throw some support behind the author's depictions of women.

I thought I liked this book until I read the comment by SusanJ_124. That's when I realized I totally agree and this book could definitely be better, but it was so suspenseful and fascinating that I could not put it down until the end. It's still pretty good.

AMAZING book! The other books in this series were not as good but were still AMAZING!

I read this as an adult to make sure that it was appropriate for my children. It is a captivating story that kept my attention and I highly recommend it. The vocabulary was fabulous and the storyline displayed the value of friendship. There was some slight violence (tranquilizer guns and tying up with rope, etc.) but otherwise nothing really inappropriate. All violence was part of the storyline and necessary.

I guess I am an outlier on this one, because I hated this book. I found it bogged down with its own attempts at cleverness and humour, and with too much repetition. I thought the characters were superficial and that Stewart crammed them into pre-set stereotypes that allowed for virtually no growth for any of them in the book. I hated that, once again, an author made the short person a horrible, incompetent pill (yes, I know there are reasons but these came a dollar short and a day late). I also hated that while Stewart pretends to be progressive with female and/or non-white characters, at the end of the day he still just reinforced the overall heteronormative power dynamics of unearned privilege.

I will not be reading any more books by this author, and regret that I spent so much time on this one.

This an amazing story with an fantastic plot! The mystery and adventure of it all makes you pick it up and never put it down!
Age:11+

I really enjoyed this book!

The Mysterious Benedict Society Is one of the most thrilling mystery books that I have ever read. I could not take my eyes off this book after I started reading it. This book is sure one heck of a ride. Age: 11

An unputdownable story about a mysterious test bringing four talented children together in order to stop the evil that is about to commence. This book will not disappoint, combining mystery, suspense, and a cast of well-written characters. Fresh and delightful.

P.S. After completing the test at the back of the book I have discovered that I am most like Reynard Muldoon. I suspected as much.

This book is perfect for readers that desire a longer story full of adventure but are not quite ready for the intensity of Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. When orphan Reynie Muldoon responds to a newspaper advertisement offering ‘special opportunities,’ he’s unaware he’ll soon be recruited into an elite team of four gifted young students. The mysterious Mr. Benedict has selected them to work as a team, infiltrating a brain-washing school to stop an evil plot to control the world. The characters in this story must learn to rely on their strengths and each other to survive, perfect for fans of adventure and brain puzzles.

Amazing book! I loved it!