Children's Books discussion

Please join us in reading The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. This is an excellent story enjoyable by both young and old. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

It's been on my to-read list a long time. I'm excited to read it with the group, and have placed a request at my library.

Cheryl wrote: "It's been on my to-read list a long time. I'm excited to read it with the group, and have placed a request at my library."

Same with me, Cheryl. It's been on my shelf forever. Now to find it!

Is the group read the first or second book? The link above is to the second book in the series.

Beverly wrote: "Is the group read the first or second book? The link above is to the second book in the series."

Thanks for noting Beverly, it's updated. We are reading the first book.

I really liked the beginning of this book. It's a great setup with so much promise. I'm not as fond of how things wrap up - coincidences cheapen things and are the mark of a lazy writer, in my view.

I tend to feel that this book was written down to children, unlike classics like Narnia or A Wrinkle in Time. For me, the fourth book (The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict) is actually better than the others - unusual for a series.

I agree that the fourth book is actually the best one. It seemed much more real to me, rather than the purposeful and contrived spookiness of the first three books. I like your statement "coincidences cheapen things". They distance me from the actual experiences of the characters.

I have read this twice already so I won't reread. But I loved it. Here's my review:

" Clever and fun. I liked Mr. Benedict. Loved the clever names. As I was reading about the tests, I kept thinking...I'd want to pass those tests but probably wouldn't. But really as I learned more about what this mysterious society does, I wouldn't want to be a member...I'm too big of a chicken! Some fun twists and surprises, and great riddles. This was a very fun read.

Reread in May 2014 with my three daughters. They loved it. Such a fun read. When it ended today, my oldest asked if there are more books and when I said yes, she said "We are DEFINITELY listening to them CD!"

I read this recently as an adult, and I LOVED it. I absolutely loved the strong female character. I wish I was as coordinated as her. I loved the fact that she was much stronger, faster, and physically capable than the boys. I loved the focus on the friendships, and relationships. I found the characters really grew throughout the series. I will definitely read this to my children. Hopefully we can get to it this month so I can post what they thought of it.

Loved this book and brilliant modern adventure that surpasses "A series of unfortunate events" can't wait to get my hands on the rest of the series.

I loved this book. The adventures kept me on my toes. The riddles and puzzles were a fun challenge. But the main reason I loved this book was for the strong female leads. I love the attitude of anything a boy can do, I can do better. My students also enjoyed this book as well. The Mysterious Benedict Society has the wonderful quality of appealing to both girl and boy readers. I love this.. I am also looking forward to reading the other titles in the series.

Michael wrote: "I really liked the beginning of this book. It's a great setup with so much promise. I'm not as fond of how things wrap up - coincidences cheapen things and are the mark of a lazy writer, in my view..."
I do not completely disagree with you regarding the ending. However this is a trend I have noticed in reading adult and children's literature. It seems to me that the authors and editors get to their page limit and just end it.

I've been wanting to read this book for a long time. I did enjoy it - the characters were great. How they conquered the riddles and problems proved that given a chance kids are stronger than they look! I wasn't sure that I liked the adult characters and that the world as we know it would end due to their need for control. I guess this was so that the children could be the heroes. Now on to the next book in the series. Someone had mentioned that they liked it better. We shall see!

I've started. I love the puzzles at the beginning, and the introduction to the characters and the world. But now that the 'meat' of the adventure is starting, I'm feeling my interest wane.

I see this is a common attitude among adult readers. Children seem to have more patience.

If I decide I want to read the fourth, LauraW and Michael, do I need to read the second and third? Do I need to finish this one??

Btw, I did try to solve the puzzles with the children, and did get some of them. Usually I solved them the way Reynie did. I think that's because I enjoy brain-teasers and have tried to work through lots of puzzle books and magazines. But - would I have passed the tests completely? I think maybe not... even when I was young, with a fresh mind, and labeled 'gifted,' I wasn't that bright.

Book 4 is actually a prequel to the other three. I found it more satisfying than the 3 regular books in the group. I think it would work fine to skip the others and just read book 4.

Oh, cool, that's good news, thank you!

Ok, well, I picked it back up for one more go, and found myself engaged enough by the adventures and the world-building of the school to finish it. I did quite enjoy it after all, and, tbh, I'm not sure I understand why some readers find the ending reliant on coincidences and lazy. I suppose I'm overlooking things, but what I saw was the culminations of lots of clues and lots of build-ups.

That all being said, I think I will not read the sequels, and skip directly to the prequel, because I'm not fond of series or adventures. I often read first books of series because I *am* fond of world-building, but I usually stop after that one.

If you are fond of world-building, you might want to take a gander at Monster Blood Tattoo by D.M. Cornish. It is one of THE most extensive world-building books I have ever read.

Sounds like a fun book. I'm next in the q at the library so looking forward to joining in the conversation. Have any of you used audiobooks or do you read the written word? I only listen to audio so maybe the drab parts won't be as noticeable. Time will tell.

Powder River Rose wrote: "Sounds like a fun book. I'm next in the q at the library so looking forward to joining in the conversation. Have any of you used audiobooks or do you read the written word? I only listen to audio s..."

I do both. I mostly listen to audiobooks in the car as I travel to and from work and other places.

I'll investigate D.M. Cornish, thank you Laura.

Powder River Rose wrote: "Sounds like a fun book. I'm next in the q at the library so looking forward to joining in the conversation. Have any of you used audiobooks or do you read the written word? I only listen to audio s..."

I do both like Beverly. I've actually read this one (by myself) and listened to it on CD (with my children). I really liked it. I liked all 4 books. I did really love the prequel...but I truly enjoyed all 4.

I finally finished this book today. I enjoyed it well enough with all the adventures and spying on the school. I agree with some of the people who posted above that I did not think the ending was contrived and full of coincidences. The main problem I had was with the reveal that Constance was only (almost) 3 years old. Her behavior was believable, but not the vocabulary level: I thought some of the things she said and understood were too mature for an almost 3 year old child. And I could not understand why the three other children did not realize she was so young. They should have been able to guesstimate her age just by looking at her. They thought she was just a very short girl about their age, but a 3 year old child looks nothing like a short 10 or 11 year old. Anyway, I still thought it was a good story; the plot moved along quickly, and the characters showed some growth during their trials.

Good points! It is implausible that Constance could fool them....

Audiobook readers - what is Constance's voice like?

I think the reader is the same for all the characters if I remember correctly. But she is definitely whiny. I agree that it is not likely she could fool them...but perhaps not impossible. My niece is quite large for her age...at age 4 she was as tall as my 7 year old and wore size 10 clothes.

I read it last month and it was an interesting read with great characters and intriguing puzzles.
The chacterization of the four remarkable children made the first half good. The second half was not upto the first. Constance Contraire’s irritability and Kate Wetherall’s red bucket were the main attractions in the book.

It definitely requires you to suspend disbelief...but I found it humorous and fun...it felt to me that this book was almost realistic fiction but with several instances where reality was stretched just a bit. To me, that was part of its charm.

I liked the bucket, but it just seemed odd and impractical to me. Which was the point, I guess... apparently this book is a bit of a spoof on the cliched tropes. If Stewart were taking himself and his book seriously, Kate would've had a backpack.

I did read the prequel, The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict, and liked it quite a bit more. TY Michael & Laura for pushing it to me. ;)

Truly enjoyed the audiobook and narrator Del Roy was excellent. Obviously there were some things that in this day and age would likely never happen but it was fun to, as Jenny said, "suspend disbelief." I was a bit concerned in the beginning that (having family in law enforcement) the author used only orphan children as if they were expendable, but in the end I guess it all worked out. Maybe one must look at fantasy for fantasy and not delve too deeply into societal issues.

The kids were impressive and I loved the teamwork which focused on problem-solving and decision-making skills. Constance was a terrible two year old with momentary super intelligence, Kate had street smarts and amazing acrobatics, Sticky was a nervous brainiac, Reymie was an intuitive young man who cared for people and together they made a great group of super sleuths.

Yes Cheryl, Kate should've had a packpack but she couldn't have done all that cool stuff with one. hehe I look forward to reading the other 3 books.

:smiles:

I nominated this book for a book of the month/group read in another group. I haven't read it yet, though.

This is an excellent story. I read a few years ago as an adult and enjoyed it for its twists and turns and creativity. I am now having my 6th graders read it (I teach a Gifted and Talented Humanities class) and they are loving it too.

Gretchen wrote: "This is an excellent story. I read a few years ago as an adult and enjoyed it for its twists and turns and creativity. I am now having my 6th graders read it (I teach a Gifted and Talented Humaniti..."

Gretchen, please let us know their thoughts when they finish. Thank you.

Btw, the group "Great Middle Grade Reads" is reading this for January 2016 BotM.

Gretchen, I too am curious how children who are gifted react to the descriptions of such children in fiction. Do they think the author understands them, or do they scoff, or what?

Unfortunately I could not find enough books in our district for the students to take it home and read. Normally I assign chapters as well, the kids (6th graders) need to write 10 questions about what they read. Then every Friday we have a Lit Club and they sit in their groups and discuss the chapters read based on their questions. It is working very well.

But with this book, as we do not have enough - they have to share in class and I read to them. They write down questions as I read. It isn't as good and we can't get very far in the book. So I think I am going to have to dedicate a few days in a row to it so they can dive in a bit more.

Once we finish the unit on Malala. ;-)

I changed it around and had the students read to each other. It took us a long time and ultimately I had small groups take the books home and finish reading, then the next group did this etc.

Everyone is now finished. A great majority thought Constance was their favorite character. Sticky and Mulligan also had quite a few votes.

I am teaching in a socio-economically depressed area (on the border of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico) and I would say that apathy reigns here. But the gifted kids are more in-line with average students in a more prosperous area - at least my 6th graders are. The 7th and 8th graders I also teach lean a little lower and more towards the apathy of the general student body.

So to answer your question, although they know they have been labeled as gifted, they didn't really identify themselves with the characters, as the character's gifts were far and above the gifts of my students so they weren't exactly relatable that way.

But the adventures in the story, the creativity of the character's choices/decisions were all noted and my students really enjoyed them.

Overall the kids really enjoyed this book.

They are now reading various books in their Lit groups: Call of the Wild, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Black Beauty, Hatchet, 80 Days Around the World.

Wonderful, thank you.