I wish I had read The Mysterious Benedict Society (which I'll refer to as TMBS hereafter for brevity's sake) when I was younger and in my primest of innocence -- free from the worries and harries of daily life and yet to be touched by cynicism and pessimism. But then that would've meant that the book's author, Trenton Lee Stewart, should've written the book back in 1990.
Nevertheless, the children's read from Mr. Stewart that first came out four years ago is a good book to recommend to someone with a hold to innocence but already experiencing the realities of life. I'm guessing this book would be a good read for someone who's between 9 - 13 years old. I've already told my four-year old daughter I'll be keeping the book safe for her so that she can read it, probably five years from now :)
TMBS tells the story of four extra-ordinary kids who are recruited by a mysterious Mr. Benedict to combat a forthcoming evil brought about by Mr. Benedict's own twin, Mr. Ledroptha Curtain (I presume although this is not explained in this first book of the series). The kids -- Reynie, Sticky, Kate, and Constance -- infiltrate Curtain's school and succeed in countering the brainsweeping scheme that the antagonist had in mind. And as they say, the kids lived happily thereafter, until the next adventure, of course (which is in The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey).
TMBS is actually an origin book, it tells us of the beginnings of the TMBS (and how they got their group name) and details their first adventure. It doesn't exactly tell us what year the story was set in but readers will get the feeling that the story happens before the prevalence of cellphones and laptops, back when TV was still the main form of entertainment and computers were bulky and bulging contraptions. So, that puts the era pre-1990s and maybe as far back as the 1960s. By doing so, Stewart already transposes the reader to another place and time, something vaguely familiar to the reader yet still starkly different.
The four kid protagonists are extra-ordinary in that they are perfectly normal albeit with special skills. There's no magic or spell-casting here that helps the kids save the day (and the world for that matter). Reynie is a gifted puzzle-solver, Sticky has an incredible memory, Kate is crafty and resourceful, while Constance is purely stubborn (which actually is the main reason she's in the team in the first place and actually saves the day at the end). What the book wishes to impart to kids is that you don't have to be Superman or Harry Potter to save the day as long as you use whatever God-given talents you have and you do it the best you can possible.
As the kids race through the adventure, readers are taught about the values of friendship, resourcefulness, independence, and cooperation. Even the trait of stubborness is put in a positive light of which I guess the proper word would be "determination". It also teaches kids to choose what is right. Doubts will definitely come in the face of decision-making but what TMBS tells kids is that they should never lose hope, believe in one's self, trust your friends, and choose the right course.
I do have some concern about the seeming consent of the book on cheating and lying as they may be interpreted wrongly by younger minds. Kids might take it that it's ok to lie and cheat as long as its for the greater good (and as mentioned, the right thing to do and in TMBS's case needed to save the day). That's the one thing that bothered me about reading this book but Stewart, I think, is telling us that cheating and lying are realities that children will have to face in life and that to choose whether to do them or not is really a hard, hard decision that can have dire consequences.
Readers introduced to colorful characters in TMBS although of the four main protagonists, Reynie (who's the lead star at least in this book) is my least favorite. I would have to say that Kate would be the character that was most interesting -- think Angus McGyver with an unquenchable thirst for adventure, while Constance provided the perfect anti-hero counterbalance to Reynie's and Kate's sense of heroics. Sticky, well, provided the comic relief and was the perceived weakest link among the four (with Reynie coming in second). I think featuring four different personalities will appeal to the reading masses as one could easily identify him or herself with one or two of the characters and latch onto that character for the duration of the story.
The other characters are also memorable, especially Mr. Benedict and Milligan. Mr. Benedict is the benevolent scientist -- the whiz and the brain -- who, as with most plots, stays behind to guard the fort and provides support long-range including moral support and encouragement (although his description is more like the old man in the movie Up, I keep imagining Dr. Elefun from the Astro Boy series). Milligan on the other hand is our archetype bodyguard with a mysterious past.
On the part of the adversaries, we are treated to the main boss in Ledroptha Curtain with sub-bosses in Executives such Martina Crowe and SQ Pedalian, and countless foot soldiers (other Executives and Recruiters) who do all they can to be evil. However, Curtain isn't detailed as really evil in the book. He has just a different view of what the world should be and is obsessed with controlling it. He is indeed nasty in the book but not overtly detailed as evil. It's the other adversaries, notably the executives, who are depicted as evil in a sense of the word.
Going back to the bit about wishing I had read TMBS when I was younger ...
Without my pessimism, cynicism, and sometimes dark and morbid view of life, I think reading TMBS would've been an utterly joyful experience. That's because I think if I've read this book in my innocence, it would've elicited a "Wow" from me. This is an amazing adventure story -- part-detective, part-spy, full-throttle kids' thriller that definitely fires up the imagination.
Stewart's writing style and the tone he uses is genuinely soft, soothing, and gentle -- it's like watching TV and a deep-voiced narrator is doing the storytelling.
Alas, this rather perfect child's world and imagination is tainted by my so-called "experiences" that the skeptic in me keeps intruding on the fantastical adventure taking place. And unfortunately more, my own biases (on what a fantastic story should be) also come in whereby I ask myself "why so and so is so and why not this and that". I can't seem to suspend the critic in me and just enjoy the book in all innocence.
But even with this bump, I still enjoyed TMBS. In fact, the sequel is already waiting on my to-be-read pile. It's a great adventurous romp, pitting unlikely heroes to triumph over the bad. The premise of good lording it over evil is there. But achieving it is not as distinguishable as black or white. The story also deals with the gray areas and gray areas are a reality in life. It's a book not for the very young but for those whose minds are already adept at analyzing, already able to comprehend, and already curious. TMBS presents to you moral situations and while you can interpret the situations one way, there's still another way of interpreting them.
Worth recommending to your friends and to your friends' kids.
Final Rating: 4 / 5
