{"id":5660,"date":"2009-03-07T18:00:38","date_gmt":"2009-03-08T00:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/?p=5660"},"modified":"2009-03-07T18:00:38","modified_gmt":"2009-03-08T00:00:38","slug":"book-review-the-mysterious-benedict-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/2009\/20090307-5660.htm","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: &#8220;The Mysterious Benedict Society&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;ARE YOU A GIFTED CHILD LOOKING FOR SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES?&#8221;  Reynie Muldoon is somewhat surprised when he sees that the newspaper advertisement addresses itself directly to children.  But he&#8217;s intrigued, and lobbies the orphanage director for a chance to take the tests that might qualify him for &#8220;special opportunities&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>After a series of odd tests&#8211;with an even odder series of encounters&#8211;Reynie finds himself as one of the four privileged (?) children who meet the green plaid clad Mr. Benedict and are invited to join a secret mission to save the world.<\/p>\n<p>The newly minted &#8220;Mysterious Benedict Society&#8221; goes undercover inside the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened.  The four children&#8217;s intelligence and trust are immediately put to the test when they discover&#8230;well, I won&#8217;t tell you what they discover.<\/p>\n<p>I picked up <i>The Mysterious Benedict Society<\/i> after having heard rave reviews of it from all over the bookie blogosphere.  I was not in the least disappointed.  <i>The Mysterious Benedict Society<\/i> is undoubtedly one of the best young adult novels I have read to this point.  It has an engaging storyline, fascinating characters, and a truth to it that is altogether remarkable.<\/p>\n<p>Without preaching, this book touches on topics as real and diverse as: trust, interdependence, intelligence, integrity, fear, temptation, control, desire, friendship, and truth.  What&#8217;s more, Mr. Stewart engages these topics in a style distinctly unlike the moral relativity our day.<\/p>\n<p>This book is a great book on so many different levels.  It is a great book because it is truthful.  It is a great book because it addresses real life.  It is a great book because it makes the reader ask questions.  It is a great book because it is READABLE and ENJOYABLE at the same time as it is all of the above.  This is truly a FANTASTIC book.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><b>Rating:<\/b> 5 stars <br \/>\n<b>Category:<\/b> Young Adult General Fiction<br \/>\n<b>Synopsis:<\/b> Four children embark on the adventure of their lives as they attempt to save the world from ruthless madman.<br \/>\n<b>Recommendation<\/b>: Adults and children alike will enjoy reading this book&#8211;and will find plenty to think about within it. <\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Visit my <a href=\"books\/index.htm\">books page<\/a> for more reviews and notes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;ARE YOU A GIFTED CHILD LOOKING FOR SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES?&#8221; Reynie Muldoon is somewhat surprised when he sees that the newspaper advertisement addresses itself directly to children. But he&#8217;s intrigued, and lobbies the orphanage director for a chance to take the tests that might qualify him for &#8220;special opportunities&#8221;. After a series of odd tests&#8211;with an &#8230; <a title=\"Book Review: &#8220;The Mysterious Benedict Society&#8221;\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/2009\/20090307-5660.htm\">Read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Book Review: &#8220;The Mysterious Benedict Society&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5660"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5660\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}