The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

Essentials:

The Mysterious Benedict Society
Trenton Lee Stewart
Middle Grade

Little, Brown Books and Company

2007
512 pages (paperback)

"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 reader, 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.

First line:
In a city called Stonetown, near a port called Stonetown Harbor, a boy named Reynie Muldoon was preparing to take an important test. 

Last line (highlight to read):
"Let them play. They are children, after all."
And this was certainly true, if only for the moment.

The Mysterious Benedict Society caught my interest the very first time I saw it at a bookstore. After reading the description, I was even more interested. And yet, for some reason, I didn't read it. It wasn't until years later that I picked up a used copy and discovered just how right my instinct had been.

I really can't think of a single book that seems likely to appeal to more children than this one. It's admittedly long for a middle grade novel and some children might find it challenging, but in terms of content, I simply can't imagine someone not liking this book.

What makes this book so great? Although all four of the children are extremely important characters, Reynie Muldoon is the protagonist, and he is just about the most likable character I can imagine. Highly perceptive, self-aware, intelligent, and compassionate, Reynie becomes a leader among his friends without meaning to. Despite this, he struggles with self-doubt and feelings of isolation. I simply can't help but root for him right from the start. Kate, Sticky, and Constance are also well-rounded, though perhaps not quite as well-rounded as Reynie.

The plot is exciting and fun, and expertly keeps readers on their toes. The conflict - a genius madman planning to take over the world using subliminal messages - seems straight out of a comic book. I suppose it could be classified as a sci-fi, but it doesn't read like one. Actually, the world has a similar feel to the world in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events books. Mr. Curtain (the villain) seems at times horribly dangerous and threatening, and at times well-intending. The confusion between Mr. Curtain and Mr. Benedict (the children's kindly benefactor) and the occasional uncertainty over who to trust, make for a roller coaster ride of a story.

Throughout the excitement, friendship remains a central theme. This book doesn't make friendship look easy. Reynie, Sticky, Constance and Kate bicker. They sometimes annoy each other. They sometimes feel selfish or jealous or hurt. This is what makes the zany plot and setting work; a lot about the book might be otherworldly, but the relationships are straight from the heart. And, when their friendship is tested (highlight to read on), this realism makes their decision to stick together a powerful moment, rather than (or perhaps in addition too) a sappy one.

This would be a great read aloud for the classroom (or at bedtime).

The last word: A fast-paced, high-stakes story of danger, espionage, and friendship, The Mysterious Benedict Society is middle grade fiction at it's absolute best.

Grade: A+

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

If you've ever stepped foot inside a library or a Barnes and Noble, then you know that there are a lot of books in the world. In fact, according to Google research, there are over 129 MILLION books out there. Even if you live to be 100, and were able to read the moment you were born, and you never slept, and you read one book EVERY MINUTE of your life (that's 1440 books per day), you still wouldn't be able to read them all.

Why am I telling you this? Because there are a lot of books I haven't read, and a lot of books you haven't read - and that's okay. Sometimes, though, the books I've missed seem genuinely worthwhile. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is one of those - a classic book I'd never gotten around to, but always wanted to read.

Essentials:

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
L. Frank Baum
Middle Grade

Books of Wonder: HarperCollins Publishers

2000 (copyright 1900)
267 pages (hardcover)

Even though the Wizard of Oz is famous largely due to the movie, I really hope it would be famous anyway. It was just about the sweetest book I've ever read! You know the story, obviously. A farm girl named Dorthoy and her dog Toto are swept up by a twister, and end up in the magical land of Oz, where they team up with a "brainless" scarecrow, a "heartless" tin woodman, and a "cowardly" lion, and together the group travel a yellow brick road to the Emerald City, to enlist the help of the great Wizard. Along the way, they encounter munchkins, witches, flying moneys, sleep-inducing poppies, and other adventures.

As is often the case, the movie leaves out a number of plot points and chacters. There are other differences as well.The Wicked Witch of the West is certainly a villain in the book, but she isn't as omnipresent as she is in the film. For example, the field of poppies isn't her handiwork in the book the way it is in the movie. It's just there. Maybe because the witch isn't as central, the book feels fairly episodic. Some scenes, such as one where the group travels through a city of little china-glass people, aren't at all connected to the rest of the tale. That's okay. Everything is so charming that I was perfectly happy to see where the yellow brick road would lead next.

The version I got was the 100th anniversary edition, with the original illustrations and bookplates. If you can get your hands on a copy, I definitely recommend it.

The last word: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a classic for good reason, offering a sweet tale of kindness and friendship in a fascinating world of magic. Though in some ways old fashioned, it remains readable today.

Grade: A-

Three Times Lucky by Shelia Turnage

Maybe it’s because we waited SO LONG for summer in Minnesota this year, but lately I’ve been craving books that remind me of swimming pools, popsicles, tree houses, sidewalk chalk, and other childhood summer staples. Three Times Lucky turned out to fit in perfectly, because this is a book that made me feel like a kid again.

Essentials:

Three Times Lucky
Shelia Turnage
Middle Grade

Dial Books for Young Readers, May 10, 2012

256 pages (hardcover)

 “Rising sixth grader Miss Moses LoBeau lives in the small town of Tupelo Landing, NC, where everyone's business is fair game and no secret is sacred. She washed ashore in a hurricane eleven years ago, and she's been making waves ever since. Although Mo hopes someday to find her "upstream mother," she's found a home with the Colonel--a café owner with a forgotten past of his own--and Miss Lana, the fabulous café hostess. She will protect those she loves with every bit of her strong will and tough attitude. So when a lawman comes to town asking about a murder, Mo and her best friend, Dale Earnhardt Johnson III, set out to uncover the truth in hopes of saving the only family Mo has ever known.”

Mo LoBeau is a charming narrator. She’s a kind, confident kid with undeniable spunk, and her voice carries humor throughout. Her asides are loveable and quirky. (At one point she observes, “Dale started swearing last year. I haven’t started yet, but the ways things are going, I could at any moment” (2).) She’s also determined to the point of recklessness, driven by fierce loyalty and love.  She tries to hide her vulnerability, but the reader still glimpses it at times.

There’s a lot going on in Mo’s world. Her guardians are unpredictable, occasionally vanishing for days at a time (though not at the same time). Her best friend has an abusive, alcoholic father, and his brother is an amateur Nascar racer. A snotty girl at school is her sworn enemy. Mo also waitresses at The Café, where she has to stand on a milk crate to be heard.  Plus, there’s the unsolved mystery of her Upstream Mother, and the bottles Mo sends down the river to find her. Then, amid all of this, a café regular is murdered. The cops suspect both Dale and the Colonel, throwing Mo’s already busy life into disarray. As she works to solve the crime and save the people she loves, she also moves closer to an important truth about her own life.

There are a number of little side plots that don’t seem to get quite enough attention. However, in a way I enjoyed these mini-plots, because they made Mo’s world more than a plot device; it’s her home, really and truly, and it carries all the complexity that entails. Part of what makes this work is the great cast of supporting characters. They’re all a bit quirky, just like Mo. I particularly liked Miss Rose, who reminded me a little of Melanie Wilkes.

I can only come up with one slight negative: The story takes place sometime this century, as evidenced by a few mentions of cell phones, but Tupelo Landing is extremely low-tech. Now, I’m a city girl, and maybe the setting is realistic for a tiny North Carolina town in the middle of nowhere. That said, I kept thinking the book took place in an earlier decade, and then remembering later that it’s supposed to be present day. This wasn’t really a problem, I just found it distracting.

The last word: Three Times Lucky is funny, charming, a great mystery, and, at its heart, a wonderful story about what it means to be a family.

Grade: A-

Doll Bones by Holly Black

Essentials:

Doll Bones
Holly Black
Middle Grade

Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2013

244 pages (hardcover)

“Zach, Poppy, and Alice have been friends forever. And for almost as long, they’ve been playing one continuous, ever-changing game of pirates and thieves, mermaids and warriors. Ruling over all is the Great Queen, a bone-china doll cursing those who displease her.

"But they are in middle school now. Zach’s father pushes him to give up make-believe, and Zach quits the game. Their friendship might be over, until Poppy declares she’s been having dreams about the Queen—and the ghost of a girl who will not rest until the bone-china doll is buried in her empty grave.

"Zach and Alice and Poppy set off on one last adventure to lay the Queen’s ghost to rest. But nothing goes according to plan, and as their adventure turns into an epic journey, creepy things begin to happen. Is the doll just a doll or something more sinister? And if there really is a ghost, will it let them go now that it has them in its clutches?”

The summary of Doll Bones was enough to interest me right away. I’d heard it was a book that managed to be truly creepy, and I was excited about the prospect of a genuinely scary story.

Doll Bones turned out not to be that story. Don’t get me wrong – it’s a good book. It just isn’t the spooky read I was hoping for. To be fair, the target audience of Doll Bones is, I would say, middle schoolers, and maybe to a 12 or 13 year old it would have seemed scary. (Then again, as a seventh grader I had a lot of friends who loved the movie The Ring, so maybe not.) One reason I couldn’t buy into the creepy stuff was that Zach, the main character, is very aware of pretending. Even when I started to think, maybe something is really going on here, his doubt kept me grounded, and that isn’t an effective path to fear.

So, Doll Bones didn’t work for me as a scary story – but as a story about friendship and growing up, it was great. I remember how lost I felt the first Christmas that I didn’t want toys. Because, even though I didn’t want little kid gifts, I didn’t want grown up gifts, either. The first years of navigating that in-between, adolescent phase can be really rough, and this book captures that experience perfectly. The true artistry of the novel is the way that Zach, Poppy, and Alice deal with this transition. Each of them experiences it somewhat differently. In Zach, we see the painful, but inevitable, loss of childhood. In Poppy, we see the hurt of feeling your friends leave you behind. And in Alice, we see the torment of being under a parent’s thumb, and also the sparkling possibilities of the future.

The last word: It didn’t have me on the edge of my seat, but Doll Bones managed something far rarer – a very true-to-life glimpse into the hearts of young teens.

Grade: B+