Book Review: The Mysterious Benedict Society

A Book Review

by Dalton

The book that I’m about to write about is a series called The Mysterious Benedict Society (5 books).  It’s my favorite series because it has a lot of funny, humorous, shocking and exciting moments.  They are very adventurous stories and have a lot of action. The most adventurous story is the second book. The ends of the books give me a very happy feeling inside of my body.  My favorite book in the series is the first book because it gives me that happy feeling at the end of the book and also because it feels like the longest book and I like long books. 

The main idea of the series is four children try to stop this person named Mr. Curtain from taking over the world with a deadly machine called The Whisperer that can read people’s minds and can take them away. Mr. Curtain has an army of heartless people that do his dirty work called Ten Men. (If you’re wondering why they're called Ten Men here’s the answer: They call them Ten Men because they have ten different ways of hurting you).  The Ten Men look like ordinary business men that carry around briefcases.  The briefcases have deadly items like razor-sharp pencils, exploding calculators, and the most dreaded laser pointer that actually shoots a real laser, but it only has one shot.  It takes all night to recharge it.

The main character in the series is Reynard Muldoon, who is an average looking teenage orphan boy (you can call him Reynie for short).  The other three children’s names are George Washington, a teenage boy (not the George Washington founder of our country).  He likes to be called Sticky.  Sticky is a runaway and is a know-it-all.  Kate Wetherall is a teenage girl that doesn’t know her father since he ran away from her and became a secret agent. So she went to an orphanage, but ran away to the circus!!!  She got taught how to train a falcon named Mage!!!  There is also Constance Contraire who is a very stubborn three year old who can read people’s minds, and switch them too!!!  Constance has no memory of her parents just like Reynie. Constance likes writing poems.  Here’s one from the second book:

The night was black the owl did call. I stood upon the silo tall, never suspecting I would fall . . . Thanks to the boy who bumped me. Though frightened, I had stayed alert. No thoughtless slumbering did divert me from my task, till I got hurt…Thanks to the boy who bumped me.

They each see Mr. Benedict’s advertisement in the newspaper for children looking for special opportunities (which really meant a test).  They don’t know each other yet if you’re wondering.  The first test was at the Monk Building on Third Street.  The room that the first test was supposed to be taken in was a room full of children, young and old, with their parents to take the first test (there would be different sessions of the first test at different times of the day).  The first test was in an ordinary looking classroom (there would be one winner for each session but the children each took a session at a different time so none of them saw each other not that they even knew each other).  Mr. Benedict has two helpers Rhonda Kazembe and Number Two and they helped the children that wanted to take the test.  Each child Reynie, Kate, Sticky and Constance finished and passed the first test.  Then they all (except Constance who couldn’t make it) meet in a room with some other children that passed the first test too.

I don’t want to tell you all the details because I don’t want to spoil it for you because it’s a really cool series.  All I can say is that the children took some more tests.  There would be five tests to be exact. The last test is the best—here’s a little something that can give you an idea of what the last test is like: it has to do with a maze. Once each child finishes/passes the last test they get asked if they would like to become a team to stop Mr. Curtain from taking over the world. They all answer: YES!!!!!!

 

This is a very challenging series so if you want to read a challenging series you should read this series. The fourth book is a book full of puzzles so here’s one for example:

Which of the following is one of the world’s smallest and most densely populated countries?

A) Malta

B) Brazil
C) Luxembourg
D) Panama
E) Lichtenstein

(Answers at the bottom.)

The cool thing is that the answer to the problems from the fourth book is in books one to three!!!  I just got the fifth book and found out that it’s about Mr. Benedict’s childhood. (Mr. Benedict is an orphan.) The fifth book’s title is, The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict.  Also, the fourth book provides a lot of information about all the books. At the end of the first book it has some questions. Here’s one for example:

What does this spell in Morse code?  .-.. .. --- -.

A) Fish

B) Hair
C) Lion
D) Codes are for toads!

(Answer at the bottom.)

 

I think you should read this series because then you could write a really cool book review.

 

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE BOOK?????

 

Answers: A, C