The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey- Trenton Lee Stewart

The Mysterious Benedict Society was one of my inaugural posts on this site, so it comes as no surprise that I would be eager to review its sequel, The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey.

The Perilous Journey picks up about a year after the first book ends. All the members of the society are enjoying considerably better circumstances (Reynie has been adopted by Mrs. Permual and her mother, Constance has been adopted by Mr. Benedict himself, Sticky has been happily reunited with his parents, and Kate is living on a farm outside of Stonetown with her secret agent father, Milligan.), but they haven't seen each other in nearly a year, and are, despite the traumas of their initial adventure together, bored.

A reunion is planned at Kate and Milligan's farm, and Mr. Benedict has arranged a world wide, all expenses paid scavenger hunt as a reward for the society and all of their hard work.

He and his imaginatively nicknamed assistant, Number Two, will travel ahead of the society, leaving the next clue for the kids at varying exotic European locales. Unfortunately, Benedict's nefarious and scheming twin brother, Leodopthra Curtain, rears his ugly head and kidnaps Benedict and Number Two. Now, instead of a luxurious European tour full of fun and challenging clues, the Society is faced with matters of life and death. They must solve each clue in order to find and rescue their beloved benefactor.

What follows is a thrilling, labyrinthine journey from Stonetown, to Lisbon, to Holland, to a mysterious, uncharted island in the North Sea. One very interesting theme that interweaves the entire story has to do with human nature. Are people basically good or basically evil? Mr. Benedict's efforts to get Reynie to trust people and see the good within them reminds me a lot of Dumbledore's espousing of the power of love in the Harry Potter books.

What is Curtain up to? Why has he kidnapped his brother? Will the Society be able to save him in time? Read on to find out.

There will be a third book, The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma, due to be published in October 2009. Look for details and other fun facts and information, puzzles and codes at the Curiosity Chronicle, the official website for these books. Very well done and worth your browsing time.

The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Mysterious Benedict Society- Trenton Lee Stewart

As literature written expressly for children enters its second century of existence, we find that many characters, themes, and plots begin to repeat themselves, and it takes a special author or idea to create something truly unique. In The Mysterious Benedict Society Trenton Lee Stewart proves himself to be just such an author.

Superficially the book is like many (good or bad) stories we've read before: mysterious calamity that adult authority figures are either too powerless to stop, or too clueless to even recognize, that can only be solved by a group of spunky, resilient, outcast, (in this case) orphans.

As TMBS opens, four children are responding to a strange advertisement in the newspaper. The ad asks simply, “ARE YOU A GIFTED CHILD LOOKING FOR SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES?” Reynie Muldoon, the protagonist, finds it strange that the ad is directed to children and not their parents, but as he is an orphan with only his tutor, Ms. Perumal (who is teaching him Tamil by the way), for company, he decides to answer at her urging.

What follows is a series of increasingly bizarre and seemingly impossible tests. As Reynie passes each ones we are introduced to each of the other three children who will eventually form the Mysterious Benedict Society: George "Sticky" Washington, Kate Wetherall, and Constance Contraire. Each of the children are able to pass the tests in their own ways, Reynie by finding a pattern, Sticky by the sheer breadth of his knowledge, Kate through the resources (telescope, pocketknife, rope, flashlight etc...) she carries in a bucket looped to her belt, and Constance through sheer force of will and stubbornness.

After passing the final test, the children are introduced to Mister Benedict, a kindly old man unfortunately prone to bouts of narcoleptic slumber, who informs them that all of the trouble and unrest in the world (incidents are mentioned in the newspaper that Reynie is perusing when he first encounters the ad) are due to the actions of one Ledroptha Curtain and his Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened (L.I.V.E.). Using a machine called the Whisperer, Curtain is sending out subliminal messages that are creating the tension the world is experiencing. He plans to use this machine to (and what evil genius villain wouldn't wan tthis for him or herself?) take over the world.

The children must infiltrate L.I.V.E. and destroy the Whisperer before Curtain's plans reach their fruition. Throughout this sequence Stewart does a fantastic job of maintaining suspense and tension in the reader. Never once does he take the easy or cliched way out of a situation he has put one of his characters in. To reveal too much of the action here is to spoil the plot for the reader so I will reign in my more expository instincts...

Suffice to say, the mission is fraught with peril and very real dangers for the children, and only through the combined use of ALL of their gifts are they able to persevere. The Mysterious Benedict Society is highly recommended for all fans of the mstery and adventure genre, especially those who want some depth to their characters and some complexity to their stories. Also, check out the highly entertaining official website here.