Trenton Lee Stewart

For fans of Lemony Snicket and Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library, this first book in the bestselling, award-winning Mysterious Benedict Society Series is now on Disney Plus! "Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?" Dozens of children respond to this peculiar ad in the newspaper and are then put through a series of mind-bending tests, which readers take along with them. Only four children--two boys and two girls--succeed. Their challenge: to go on a secret mission that only the most intelligent and inventive children could complete. To accomplish it they will have to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules. But what they'll find in the hidden underground tunnels of the school is more than your average school supplies. So, if you're gifted, creative, or happen to know Morse Code, they could probably use your help.

The Mysterious Benedict Society

After passing a series of mind-bending tests, four children are selected for a secret mission that requires them to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules.

Mariah crawford

I would definitely recommend this book to children (and adults) who are gifted/intelligent and don’t always fit in with society. It’s filled with hopeful themes and has such dynamic and lovable characters. 

Jeweliet Coffee

It was so joyful to return to a book from my childhood. Such a fun read and stood up to my fond memories. 

Abigail Swallow

Kaylee Ray

Loved every second of this book! I wish I had been so lucky as to read it when I was a kid, but I love it just as much at 22. Can’t wait to read the rest!

Amna A.

Loved it! Lemony Snicket meets Roald Dahl. Full of puzzles and codes, the characters are a joy... looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

The Mysterious Benedict Society #1

Sarah Sammis

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart had been on my wishlist since it was first published. I had a chance to buy it when it back then but I decided not too. Thus it was one of the first books to come off my wishlist when I began my project last summer.

The book begins with Reynie Muldoon taking a series of tests. Those who pass get to enroll in a special school. Reynie being an orphan has nothing to lose; if anything, the school will be a huge improvement. In all four students pass by different methods and they are invited to perform a secret mission to save the town and quite possibly the world.

The has all the hallmarks of a British children's story: the orphan going to a boarding school, a mysterious evil and lots of puzzle solving. But it's not; it's set in the United States. There was a time when these sorts of books were set and written here but it's been about a century. The Mysterious Benedict Society has a kinship with the Ruth Fielding series from the 1910s.

My favorite character in the book is Constance. She's portrayed as obnoxious, lazy and contrary, there are reasons behind her flaws. The observant reader might be able to decipher the clues behind her secret. I didn't but I was having too much fun seeing if the Mysterious Benedict Society could save the day.

Maria

how lovely to return to a book you used to love as a kid growing up, and find out you still love it as an adult

Christine

an all time favorite book of mine <3 i've read it like 4 or 5 times

Stephanie Denton

I've read this book about 4 times, and loved it each time. The heroes are intelligent kids, thrown together to save the world. Twists and turns throughout.

Laura Mauler

This was a fun book but Reynie, out main character, was quite boring, in my opinion. He just seemed like too much of a blank slate. But other than him I enjoyed the cast of characters, especially Constance! The codes and mysteries and riddles were all fun to go along. I even found myself cracking them before the children did. But where maybe most mysteries were in the pages, there were at least a few that seemed to be solves by chance.

I had a major issue with the way disability and otherness(?) was depicted. Either it was a joke, with Mr Benedict's narcolepsy. Or vilified with Mr Curtain's wheelchair. And the way their big noses were describes made me feel icky. Then there's SQ's feet, which just seemed random and mean. Perhaps this is a reflection of the time, but it's still worth noting.

Ari Rose

This was a fun book but Reynie, out main character, was quite boring, in my opinion. He just seemed like too much of a blank slate. But other than him I enjoyed the cast of characters, especially Constance! The codes and mysteries and riddles were all fun to go along. I even found myself cracking them before the children did. But where maybe most mysteries were in the pages, there were at least a few that seemed to be solves by chance.

I had a major issue with the way disability and otherness(?) was depicted. Either it was a joke, with Mr Benedict's narcolepsy. Or vilified with Mr Curtain's wheelchair. And the way their big noses were describes made me feel icky. Then there's SQ's feet, which just seemed random and mean. Perhaps this is a reflection of the time, but it's still worth noting.

Great characters, a wonderful story. Still holds up even 10 years after reading it the first time as a kid

Mysterious Benedict Society

I love this series so much, this was another really good read, and I love seeing Constance's character develop so much!

rumbledethumps

Too cute by half. Punny names, combined with uninteresting puzzles made this book nearly unreadable for me. Read it to see if my daughter might want to read the series, but I can’t recommend it to her nor anyone else.

Jordan Bowman

I don't mind long books at all, and I don't think this book is terrible. But it would be much, much better if it were about 250 pages shorter.

abby

My fav book in elementary/middle school :]

Heaven Adore

Definitely a favorite book of the year! Man, this book was absolutely amazing! I just like how idiosyncratic and intriguing the story line was. "What's going to happen next?" or "How are they going to escape that situation?" are questions that constantly ran through my mind. I literally had trouble putting the book down because of that haha. There were funny moments, sweet ones, and of course peculiarity. 

I'm glad that my best friend persuaded me to read this book. I probably wouldn't have known what a great book this was because of her! 😄 I definitely highly recommend it and I'm SO excited to read book 2!

Colette McDermed

Um, it was ok? I finished the first book, hoping the series would get better, but it didn't. I can see how much younger readers would enjoy it, a lot more than I did. The writing style was great, as was the plot, but I couldn't get attached to any of the characters. I simply didn't care. So much so, that i couldn't even finish the second book. Perhaps this is because the characters were not my age? There wasn't much violence (lol I can't believe I enjoy that). And it made the story a lot less dangerous or high stakes feeling. There was also no romance, which I understand because I think this book was written for younger readers, but it did make it a lot less interesting to me. If you are a younger reader, I would recommend it to you. If you are like me, and usually enjoy high stakes, heart racing fantasies, I definitely would not.

Kelsey Lynn

So, I know I'm not the target age group for this, and at first I feared that is why I disliked it so much. But having recently reread other books of this age group from my youth, I've found that age is not why I didn't like it. 

 This was one of my book club member picks for our "fluff" round, essentially a round about turning your brain off and enjoying the ride. This was a 4/4 every member did not like it.

 This book starts off promising. Lemony Snicket fun narrator vibe, fun intro to the story with the puzzles. However, as soon as we get past that and start the actual plot it's a whole lot of nothing.
 Nothing happens. When things do happen, we are not present we just hear about it. It's 500+ pages of the characters whispering in their rooms, or in the halls and classrooms about the things that did happen that we did not see. For how much this book tried to be "smart" it didn't have any more puzzles and treated its audience like infants (Ladroptha Curtain? Really? M.A.S.T.E.R? Really?) 

 The big discussion book club had on why this book didn't work, was that there is no sense of concern or peril, no reason to care about the world or characters. The most perilous moment is when sticky goes to the mud room, and even then we aren't there with the character, we hear about it after and have no true sense of why it should be feared.

 Instead we have a bunch of characters listening to a bunch of manipulative adults. (Isolation, guilting, etc, from the "good guys" to get the kids to do what they want). Kids that then go on and get other manipulated kids blamed and in trouble multiple times (a great opportunity for self reflection and character growth, but there is none of that here). Only for the climax to finally come, and bam, once again we don't see it, instead we get a "4 months later" and an ending that makes the Harry Potter epilogue look like high literature. Don't get me started about the idiotic Constance twist. Like I'm sorry, no matter how smart she is, that would be noticeable.


 A lot of the 5 star reviews on Amazon were very telling for how such a boring book would be so popular. A. It's unproblematic, B. Kids are never in actual danger, C. Kids respect and listen to adults at all time. This is a book for kids who don't or haven't really read, the book that was made for kids who aren't allowed to read other books. If your kid likes reading, and reads a lot, they probably won't like this book, cause it's 500 pages of nothing happening. 

 If you are a parent looking for a book to quench your child's voracious reading appetite about a rag tag group of kids facing off against a big bad, may I suggest The Thief of Always by Clive Barker, half the size and 10x more rewarding.
If you are a parent trying to figure out how to make your active child sleep at night, may I suggest The Mysterious Benedict Society.

annie

The first is the great series. 
When a peculiar ad appears in the newspaper, dozens of children enroll to take a series of mysterious, mind-bending, tests. But in the end just four very special children succeed. Their challenge: to go on a secret mission that only the most intelligent and resourceful children could complete. With their newfound friendship at stake, will they be able to pass the most important test of all?
This is a really fun book that is great for listening to in the car with the whole family!
Enjoy!

Mary Horton

These children are precious and I want them as my friends. (Also Sticky's anxiety is SO RELATABLE. I am Sticky.)

All in all, such a fun read! Thoroughly enjoyed it and am looking forward to continuing the series.

4 stars

mighty dragon 

Rick Dobrowolski

This book was a lot of fun to read through as a family. The thread of working together as a team was an excellent lesson to learn. The story is definitely fantastical and very unrealistic at points but that doesn’t take away from the book at all.

Reagan Suitt

I could not believe I loved this book so much. I started reading it because I was out of other books and my librarian have it to me so I thought I would give it a try. Turns out the wild adventure that 4 misfit children have would be a captivating story that had me reading for about two days straight! Definitely recommend you read this, no matter the age it's a well written journey that can take your mind to a place of adventure.

The Mysterious Benedict Society

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