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The Mysterious Benedict Society is a novel written by Trenton Lee Stewart. Released in 2007, it is the debut novel of Stewart's series of the same name.
Characters[]
- Reynie
- Sticky
- Kate
- Constance
- Dr. Curtain
rest to be added
Publisher's summary[]
ARE YOU A GIFTED CHILD Looking for special opportunities?
When this peculiar ad appears in the newspaper, dozens of children enroll to take a series of mysterious, mind-bending tests. (And you, dear listener, can test your wits right alongside them.) But in the end just four very special children will succeed. Their challenge: to go on a secret mission that only the most intelligent and resourceful 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.
As our heroes face physical and mental trials beyond their wildest imaginations, they have no choice but to turn to each other for support. But with their newfound friendship at stake, will they be able to pass the most important test of all?
Welcome to The Mysterious Benedict Society.
Summary[]
Reynard "Reynie" Muldoon is an orphaned boy with a love for puzzles and books living in an orphanage in the metropolis of Stonetown with his tutor, Miss Perumal. Reynie notices a newspaper advertisement targeted towards gifted children, consisting of a series of three odd and complex tests, all of which he passes. After seeing a newspaper article addressed to children with special gifts, eleven-year-old Reynie Muldoon goes to a center where he and many other children take a written test with many strange questions relating to logic, bravery, etc. Do you like television? Reynie replied NO. Though he sometimes enjoyed it, it seemed to irritate him a bit.
Then there was, Do you like the radio? Reynie replied NO without waiting. Then there was What is wrong with this statement? Reynie said that it wasn't a statement at all, but a question. A very sneaky question that only he got correct was According to the rules of chess, is this possible? To this, he replied YES. It showed one black pawn moving two steps ahead. His logic was that the white knight hopped over, the black pawn came, and the knight went back. He was the only one in the room to pass this exam, and, after all the other children leave, he is invited to yet another center for more tests.
He goes there the next day, and meets Rhonda Kazembe, a distressed girl who lost her only pencil for the test, down the drain. She appears to have green hair and a poofy dress. Reynie breaks his pencil in half to give Rhonda to use. George "Sticky" Washington offers to help her and Rhonda makes him enter it. He doesn't see a pencil anywhere and feels scared. After what seemed like forever, Rhonda finally lets him out. She says not to worry and pulls out an extra pencil for herself. Rhonda offers them the answers to the test they're about to take. Reynie refuses this and walks into the testing area. There, he and many other children sit in separated desks, each getting a test. All of the test questions are impossibly hard Reynie notices, some of the other children even start to cry. But Reynie realizes that each question's answer can be found in the answer choices in a different part of the test. The answer to 1 can be found in the choices for 21, and vice versa; the answer to 2 in the choices for 22; up to 40 questions. Reynie realizes it is all just a big puzzle.
After the second test, Sticky and Reynie meet each other and Kate Wetherall. While they were talking, Number Two tells the children to go to Room 7-B for the third test. Reynie guesses that it must be in the seventh floor. On the seventh floor, there was a Room 7-A, 7-C, 7-D, and 7-E, and one without a sign. Kate knocks on the door loudly several times, until they get a response by Milligan, coming from behind them, not from the door. He tells them that they have to go inside the room for the test. Sticky goes first; then Reynie, then Kate.
The test is to get across the room without setting foot on a black or blue square. The floor was like a checkerboard with alternating rectangles of black, blue, and yellow. However, there was far more black and blue than yellow; Reynie doubted that even a kangaroo could hop from yellow to yellow. While Sticky walked on his hands and knees across the room, and Kate stood on her hands and crossed the room, Reynie just walked to the other side, having realized that the black and blue rectangles aren't squares, but rectangles.
More Coming Soon
Mr. Benedict tells them that the one sending these messages is a Mr. Curtain, the principal of the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened. The messages are being sent from the Institute, a school located on Nomansan Island off the coast of Stonetown.
Inside the Institute the children see strange people. The lessons are repetitive. Communicating with Mr. Benedict via Morse Code, the children uncover Mr. Curtain's scheme to control the people of the world and imprison his enemies.
The children manage to stall Mr. Curtain's plan, allowing Mr. Benedict to shut down the Whisperer, Mr. Curtain's machine which allows him to transmit the hidden messages. Though Mr. Curtain is still at large, the children share a party together with Constance, who is celebrating her third birthday.
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Sources[]
- Local library
- The Mysterious Benedict Society Wiki
- Goodreads
- Wikipedia