Blog 11-8-12

For this week's blog I chose the book The Mysterious Benedict Society. The author is Trenton Lee Stewart and illustrations by Carson Ellis. This book is a mind bending read that takes you on an adventure. There are four main characters Reynie Muldoon, Constance, Kate and Sticky. There are a few things that all four of them have in common and they are that they are extremely gifted children, all alone with out a guardian for some reason and have agreed to come and be tested for a "special opportunity". They were each put through a series of tests that are extremely difficult and mysterious. Although the tests were difficult the four children passed them with both difficulty and ease.

     After the tests are done and they are told that they passed the tests the children are told that they now must make a choice. Mr. Benedict, an Narcoleptic individual, tells them that he has chosen them for a mission that is life threatening. All four children end up deciding that they are interested in the mission and accept the difficulty. The mission is that of stopping a person that is sending messages into citizens heads and corrupting them to do unspeakable things. Why did he chose children you might ask? This is because children that are gifted are very good at blocking out these messages because their minds do not want to be deceived. The crew of four are embedded into the "Institution" where they believe the villain to be hiding. They must unravel all the mystery and save the world from an untimely end. 

     This book is a great read aloud book. The text easily keeps the students engaged and interested in the next twist in the story. The reading level of this book I would think would be at a 4th or 5th grade level. It could however be used up through high school due to its interest level. I would highly recommend this book for any classroom!