The Mysterious Benedict Society
The Mysterious Benedict Society is a novel written by Trenton Lee Stewart and illustrated by Carson Ellis, first published in 2007.
Plot summary
After seeing a newspaper article addressed to children with special gifts, eleven-year old Reynard Muldoon goes to a center where he and many other children take a written test with many strange questions relating to logic and bravery.
Because of the logic and skill he showed, Reynard, together with three other children named George "Sticky" Washington, a boy with photographic memory, Kate Wetherall, a resourceful and agile girl, and Constance Contraire, a stubborn 2 year old, is sent by Mr. Benedict to act as his spies at the Institute, gain "special privileges," given only to high ranking students, and, if possible, destroy the machine sending messages.
Inside the Institute the children see strange people - the Helpers, who refuse to answer questions about themselves and always seem sad, and Mr. Curtain himself, later identified to be Mr. Benedict's long-lost twin brother. The lessons are very repetitive, seeming to echo messages that Mr. Benedict and his helpers pick up through a receiver, and, although the Executives who run the school say that there aren't any, there are strict rules with severe consequences for breaking them. Communicating with Mr. Benedict via Morse Code with a flashlight, the children uncover Mr. Curtain's plan - to control the people of the world and to imprison his enemies.
The children manage to stall Mr. Curtain's plan and make him fall asleep (Mr. Curtain also suffers from narcolepsy), allowing Mr. Benedict to shut down the Whisperer, Mr. Curtain's machine which allows him to transmit the hidden messages through different materials like television (and possibly erase memories from people's minds). Though Mr. Curtain escapes, the children share a party together with Constance, who is celebrating her third birthday (the others did not previously know that she was so young), although her birthday is actually a month away.
Characters
- Reynard "Reynie" Muldoon is an eleven-year-old boy living at Stonetown Orphanage. He is exceptionally talented at problem solving, logical deduction, and reading people's emotions, and his intelligence resulted in the assignment of a special tutor at Stonetown Orphanage, Miss Perumal. Reynie looks between the lines, observing and questioning, and gets past most obstacles by finding the "puzzle" within the situation. He is described as an especially average-looking boy with average brown hair, average pale complexion, and average clothes. It is obvious in some parts that Reynie is Kate's crush.
- George "Sticky" Washington is a dark-skinned boy with a bald head. He is also eleven. He has a prodigious photographic memory and a talent for speed-reading. He is, however, timid and nervous and resorts to polishing his glasses in stressful situations. He ran away from his parents because they forced him into academic competitions and because he later had reason to think that they no longer wanted him around at all. He also has the special ability in which everything he reads "sticks" in his head. Seems to be jealous of Kate and Reynie's budding love.
- Kate "The Great Kate Weather Machine" Wetherall is a twelve-year-old girl who is resourceful and athletic, possessing extreme agility skills and dexterity bordering on the superhuman. She has brownish-blonde hair and fair skin. She carries a red bucket containing various items, including a Swiss Army knife, a flashlight, a pen light, rope, a bag of marbles, a slingshot, a spool of clear fishing twine, one pencil and eraser, a horseshoe magnet and a spyglass disguised as a kaleidoscope. She is very cheerful and optimistic. Kate's mother died when she was a baby, and she believes that her father abandoned her.
- Constance Contraire is a small, extremely intelligent, precocious, stubborn and often unpleasant girl. She has the ability to write clever and whimsical poems, and her ultra-sensitive mind is also the most severely affected by the hidden messages transmitted by the Whisperer. At the end of the book she is adopted by Mr. Benedict. Also three years old.
- Ledroptha Curtain is the antagonist of the story and the head of the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened (L.I.V.E.). Mr. Curtain created the Whisperer and other inventions in order to brainsweep all the world's minds, as part of a scheme in which he will control the world and be declared "Minister And Secretary of all The Earth's Regions" (M.A.S.T.E.R.) Partway through the story, he is revealed to be Mr. Benedict's twin brother. He uses a modified wheelchair to get around, due to his narcolepsy, a condition he shares with his brother. However, unlike his brother, his narcolepsy is triggered by anger, whereas Mr. Benedict's narcolepsy is triggered by happiness and laughing.
- Mr. Benedict- the person who started The Mysterious Benedict Society and brought the children together. He is the one who wants to stop Ledroptha Curtain's Whisperer. He has narcolepsy like his twin, which is triggered by feeling strong emotion. He is very reluctant to let the children go on a dangerous mission, but when reminded there is no other way, he lets them go. He leaves a note to the reader at the end of the book saying that to find his first name, "if you are acquainted with the code, the I assure you that the answer lies within your grasp. "The key word in the note to the Reader is "code" and the phrase "answer lies within your grasp." In hardback versions of the book, a Morse Code sequence appears on the inside of the book jacket underneath the author's name and blurb, literally where a typical reader would be holding the book. In paperback versions, there is a Morse Code sequence on the back cover of the book, underneath the plot description.
- Milligan is the guard for the children when they enter L.I.V.E and for Rhonda, Number Two, and Mr. Benedict. He is a sad and somber man, even described as a "scarecrow" owing to his shabby and depressing demeanor. His sadness is attributed to his kidnapping by secret agents working for Mr. Curtain, after which he lost all of his past memories, due to the Whisperer. He claimed, in one chapter where he was asked why he was sad, that he felt comfortable about the name "Milligan", and that it is because it seems familiar to him. He has flax blond hair and ocean blue eyes.
- Number Two is one of Mr. Benedict's assistants. She is always referred to by her code name, despite Mr. Benedict telling her that her real name is fine. (Readers discover her real name in the third book.) She is said to have a 'pencil like' appearance, (which is also a pun on the common yellow #2 pencil) complete with a yellow complexion, rusty red hair, and yellow clothes. She passed Mr. Benedict's tests several years ago, and was later adopted by Mr. Benedict. She almost never sleeps because she is always trying to watch Mr. Benedict in case he falls asleep due to narcolepsy. She is able to stay up to watch Mr.Benedict because she is eating all the time to keep herself up.
- Rhonda Kazembe is also a former student, but was adopted by Mr. Benedict just like Number Two. She is very small, giving her the ability to pose as a student during Mr. Benedict's tests, and offer (false) answers to any child who will take them. Therefore, if they agreed to cheat, they would not pass the quiz. Like Number Two, she also tries to watch for Mr. Benedict's Narcoleptic attacks
Supporting characters
- S.Q. Pedalian An Executive working for Mr. Curtain. He is known to be a klutz, but even though he is clumsy, he happens to be the only Executive who is kind to the Mysterious Benedict Society. However, he is somewhat oblivious to the dangerous effects L.I.V.E and the Whisperer have on the world's inhabitants. The author is prone to word play throughout the novel including using locations like Nomansan Island (which could be read as: No Man's an Island, a literary reference to the John Donne statement which also has thematic reference to Reynie's problems in the novel), the careful reader should be aware of the literary reference of S.Q.'s name and his character (including his stated shoe size of 15) to the word sesquipedalian, which translates from Latin as "a foot and a half long."
- Jackson A Head Executive who is unkind, rude, and cruel towards people lower than him.
- Jillson A Head Executive with an"I am better than you" attitude. Her reputation is like Jackson's, as she is rude, mean, and cruel.
- Martina Crowe is a teenager with long black hair. She is a Messenger at the Institute first, but later on is promoted to the position of Executive by Mr. Curtain even though he does not trust her much. She despises the members of the Mysterious Benedict Society because Sticky and Reynie got better grades than she did, threatening her position as Messenger (since there can only be a limited amount.) She also dislikes Kate because Kate stands up to her and is not afraid of her.
- Miss Perumal She is Reynie's tutor, of Indian extraction, and is intelligent and friendly. She is the only person who is kind to Reynie at the orphanage. She also speaks Tamil, which she teaches Reynie during their lessons. At the end of the novel, she adopts Reynie.
- Mr. Rutger is the Stonetown Orphanage director. Blinded by greed, he wouldn't let any children in the orphanage go to an advanced school in order to retain funding he received per child.
- The Helper Although there are many helpers, they should be mentioned. The Helpers made food, did laundry and many other tasks that helped keep the Institute running. They are not allowed to talk to any students at L.I.V.E. or make eye contact.
Sequels
Two sequels (the second and third books in the series) were published in 2008 and 2009: The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey and The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma.
A prequel,The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict, is expected to be released in spring 2012. [1]
References
External links