The Mysterious Benedict Society
| Author | Trenton Lee Stewart |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Carson Ellis |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Mysterious Benedict Society |
| Genre | Young adult |
| Publisher | Little, Brown and Company |
|
Publication date
|
March 7th 2007 |
| Pages | 485 pgs |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 66392644 |
| LC Class | PZ7.S8513 My 2007 |
| Followed by | The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey |
The Mysterious Benedict Society is a novel written by Trenton Lee Stewart and illustrated by Carson Ellis, first published in 2007. It tells the story of four gifted children: Reynie Muldoon, George "Sticky" Washington, Kate Wetherall, and Constance Contraire, who all are formed into the "Mysterious Benedict Society" and are sent to investigate a facility called L.I.V.E. (the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened), run by the brilliant but evil Ledroptha Curtain.
After seeing an ad in the newspaper that reads, "ARE YOU A GIFTED CHILD LOOKING FOR SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES?" Reynie Muldoon decides to take a test that is being hosted nearby. At the facility, he takes two rounds of testing, and is the only one in the room each time to pass - which he does easily by reading between the lines and figuring out the puzzles involved after refusing an offer to cheat. Invited to go to another facility to continue testing, he meets George, or "Sticky" Washington, a timid boy with an extraordinary gift for memory which he used to pass the tests. During the final two physical tests, he meets Kate Wetherall, an athletic and resourceful girl with a large bucket of objects, and Constance Contraire, a diminutive girl with a very defiant personality and a gift for wit, especially considering her minuscule size. All four children are also revealed to either have no parents or (in the case of Sticky, a runaway) to have been estranged from them.
All four children pass the tests and meet Mr. Benedict, the leader of the organization that led all of the tests. He then shows them a television, playing news about a looming Emergency that is plaguing the country at large, and uses a device to reveal a secret signal that is being broadcast with the TV transmission, the voice of a young child giving cryptic messages. He tells them that these signals are coming from the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened (L.I.V.E.), a mysterious organization nearby that also attracts young gifted children, and they have transmitted for the past few years. Believing that these transmissions were causing the illusion of the Emergency, and wanting evidence for his findings, he had administered these tests to organize a group of children to infiltrate the Institute, which the four children leave to do the next day.
The four children quickly discover the Institute to be a cryptic organization that relies on illusions, such as the lack of rules. Much of the curriculum taught is cryptic and nonsensical - including the cryptic messages in the secret signals - and relies on memorization. They also discover a hierarchy of Executives, older students who run the Institute, and Messengers, slightly younger students with special privileges, "special recruit" students who have been kidnapped but have no recollection of being abducted, and Helpers, mindwiped adults who mindlessly work at the Institute. In addition, they discover the institute to be run by Ledroptha Curtain, Mr. Benedict's long lost identical twin. All of this information is transmitted back via Morse Code to Mr. Benedict through his agents Rhonda, Number Two, and Milligan who are stationed in a forest across the sea from the Institute, watching with a telescope.
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