A review by sassmistress
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

adventurous funny informative lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

5 stars and I'm finding the sequel! I laughed, I gasped with delight, I wiped the occasional watery eye. Full of daring heroics, friendship, resourcefulness, bravery, and the triumph of truth over attractive deception, this book is clean, full of riddles and mystery, and super engaging. If you're acquainted with Harry Potter, this book is comparable in reading level, writing quality, and engagement. No similarities in content, though, unless an "orphan" protagonist counts. 

(Summary:
 A small team of children join a brainwashing school as secret agents to discover the evil mastermind's plot before it's too late. For what? They don't know, but he's already been sending the world subliminal messages through the television and will soon be sending them directly to people's minds to condition them for the second stage of his plan, The Improvement... whatever that means. 
 ) 

 I especially love how the children have their own unique ways of problem-solving (solving riddles and thinking logically, book smart with a photographic memory, thinking outside the box, resourcefulness/preparedness and physical skill). They're all necessary and valuable to the mission, even though one girl's contribution to the team doesn't become clear until the end of the book. The book is unobtrusively diverse in several other ways, too. Physical descriptions quietly reveal multiple races, skin tones, styles of dress. There are characters whose first languages are Tamil, Bembi, and Dutch. At least two characters have a disability that affects the storyline but does not limit their involvement in anything. 

Minimum age for optional enjoyment would probably be middle grade, as there's some philosophizing, puzzles that young children won't get, and tense moments. You have to understand some basic rules of chess to get one minor plot point. It's a page-turner for adult me, too, so I think it would be an amazing family read-aloud if your kids are a little older. 

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