The book that I read was The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. It is the first book in this trilogy series. It was about 4 kids who get sent on a mission by and old guy named Mr. Benedict. They get sent to this school where the headmaster there is brainwashing people who watch TV and listen to the radio. It turns out that the headmaster is Mr. Benedict’s long lost identical twin brother, Mr. Curtain. This notorious villain is trying to take over the world using children.
I am going to compare the characters of Mr. Benedict and Mr. Curtain. They are identical twins. Meaning that they look alike and probably have the same voice, but do they have the same brain? Referencing the ending of the book, yes, they have the same brain, that brain is what stopped The Whisperer right? Right. The only thing that even tells the two twins apart is their heart. Mr. Benedict’s heart is towards doing good, while Mr. Curtain’s heart is evil. Just imagine Mr. B as Dumbledore and Mr. C as Voldemort.
Mr. Curtain, while running The Institute, the school that is brainwashing kids, is in charge of those kids, he hates children. Mr. Benedict on the other hand, adores children. In fact, he believes them to be the future. The relationship between the two brothers is sort of vague throughout the book because they don’t have many interactions. It is towards the end where the book kind of dips into their lives. They’re both narcoleptic, which means that whenever a strong emotion is triggered within them, they fall asleep for a few minutes, then wake up without remembering what happened.
Their narcolepsy is also something that defines them. The strong emotions that triggers the disorder for Mr. Benedict is laughter or happiness, while for Mr. Curtain, it is anger. The Mysterious Benedict Society had no idea that Mr. Curtain had narcolepsy; they just found it sort of accidentally. The Society had just started insulting Curtain and he fell asleep.
After this scene, Mr. Benedict convinces the kids that even though Mr. Curtain is an extremely bad villain, he doesn’t want to do anything to him, just let him go. This little act that Mr. Benedict did shows his love for the brother whom he only just found out about, and the fact that he believes that there is good in everybody, even the ones that seem to be bad on the outside.
I think that author wrote this book to emphasize on just how important friendship and family and heart can be. In the book, each character has their own story, their own life story to tell (even though like half of them are like 10).Every character in the book faces an obstacle later, whether it has to do with Mr. Curtain or just a personal problem.
For me personally, I feel as if there's some sort of friendship/love thing that exudes from the writing in the book. It connects to how the author writes, because he uses a lot of foreshadowing in the books. The fact that this book is, I believe,a children/young adult book, already makes it seem as though the characters will have a happy ending. Let's examine, shall we?
"As it so happens, however, I now find myself in the presence of the best possible team of children I could ever hope for -- indeed, have long hoped for -- and with not a minute to lose. In other words, you are our last possible hope. You are our only hope." (82).The first time I read this, I immediately thought that the kids were in for one hell of a ride. And that is exactly what happened. The foreshadowing got me more hooked onto the book, because I wanted to know what was going to happen to these young kids, and I think that's what the author meant to do as well. He played the foreshadowing card right.
The book I am reading is called The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. It's about 4 kids who go on a flurry of adventures sort of led by Nicholas Benedict, an old guy who's narcoleptic.
The prompt I chose to answer was the one about choosing a character, or choosing two to analyze and stuff. Well, the characters I chose were Reynie and Sticky.
Reynie, he's sort of what you would call the 'puzzle guy' in the group of four. He's very friendly, smart, and is the only one who can handle Constance.
Sticky. Where does his nickname come from? Everything he reads, it sticks to his brain, and he is able to relay that information when needed. He's the 'brains' of the group of four.
"Well, you didn't know it was a puzzle, and I didn't know any of the answers, but we're both here now. We'd make a good team." (35).The part that I quoted from already tells the future of the two characters together. They, along with the rest of their group, fit together perfectly when trying to solve the problem with Mr. Curtain, the book's evil villain. Reynie, with his puzzle solving skills, allows for him to see things more differently than other people, and Sticky, with his extensive knowledge, helps the group to learn some facts about something in order to learn more about it.
An example of how both their talents were used, was when the group went exploring around Nomansan Island, and discovered the drapeweed. Sticky, being the smart one that he is, identified the plant immediately, and called the plant somewhat safe. Reynie, on the other hand, was sort of being the self-proclaimed leader, as everyone was asking for his opinion on what to do about the plant. He had an 'uneasy feeling', but the group went to inspect it anyways.
Overall, I thought this book was good. There was just the right amount of that 'children's book' feeling to it, but it wasn't a children's book. It was a well-written mystery, young-adult book. And the author played another foreshadowing card leading on to the next book in the epic trilogy of The Mysterious Benedict Society, (the trilogy is epic.)
May the fourth be with you.
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