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Dec 02, 2020pacl_teens rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
"The Mysterious Benedict Society(Book 1) written by Trenton Lee Stewart is an extraordinary mystery book. Reynie Muldoon, the main protagonist one day finds a local paper requesting the need of specially gifted children. Reynie is extremely intelligent and decides to go take a try. The test not only tested for basic intelligence, but also tested for personality traits, and other weird things. When he passes the test, he realizes only 3 other contestants have passed. They then meet Mr. Benedict, who is trying to stop Ledroptha Curtain. Ledroptha has been controlling people with his technology, and the 4 children are tasked to sneak into the school of Ledroptha Curtain and try and stop him from performing something terrible. Will the 4 children uncover and stop Ledroptha's plan, or will they fail and get caught? I personally really enjoyed this book, and the sudden plot twist at the end really made me enjoy this book. I think anyone that likes a great mystery book should try reading this. I give this book a 5/5 rating." -Eric, Grade 9 "Reynie hears about tests for gifted kids, and decides to take them. Only he, Sticky, Kate, and Constance pass the tests. And they are offered a job to become a spy. They accept the offer, and go investigate messages secretly being sent through television. The messages are coming from an island with a school for gifted individuals. So they enroll in the school and start to look around. They begin to notice how some people there are acting very strange, and what they find out shocks them. The Mysterious Benedict Society is a fun, and relatively easy read. The plot was solid, and the characters were well developed. The plot twists were good, and the author did a good job at using suspense to keep the story interesting. I felt very invested in the story, and almost always was interested in what would happen next. The book was overall well written, and I would recommend the book to younger teenagers. But that doesn’t mean that older teenagers won’t enjoy it. 5/5 stars" -Jake, Grade 10 "Mr Benedict, needs help for this super secret spy mission.. but they have to be super smart, and they have to be kids, so what does he do? Well he puts an add in the newspaper that says, "ARE YOU A GIFTED CHILD LOOKING FOR SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES?" So obviously there are thousands of kids that apply, but they have to go through 3 different tests, and each time kids get eliminated. The four kids who make it through, are all very different, and they don't all get along. But they have to work together to solve the mission, and save the world. After reading this book I felt incredibly dumb, I mean these kids are all younger than me, and can solve all these puzzles and stuff, that I couldn't even remotely understand. Like, "Time is shorter than we thought. Thus to get what must be got, you must become what you are not" was sent to them IN MORSE CODE and they all figured out that they needed to "become" in like 5 minutes. Overall this book was a super fun and exciting read. While the directed audience is probably elementary-middle schoolers, I think it can be enjoyed by all ages, and I definitely recommend reading it when you need a nice feel-good read." 4/5 stars -Charlotte, Grade 10