The Mysterious Benedict Society

*****

By: Trenton Lee Stewart.

This book is amazing!!!! I can't even describe how good the book is! This was definitely a five-star-worthy novel.

It starts off with an ad in the newspaper.

"Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?" A very talented boy named Reynie Muldoon decided that he was fit for that ad, and headed off to the location the ad instructed to go to. There, he takes several tests and he passes them all. Later, he meets with 3 other kids(Sticky, Kate and Constance)that have passed the tests as well.

After the fourth and last test, the foursome meets Mr. Benedict, the reason of this whole ad. Later, they find out that Mr. Benedict is on an important mission to save the world, and that he needed very special and talented children to help carry out the mission, which, only children could accomplish. The mission was to stop an evil man named Mr. Curtain from brain-sweeping the world! Lately, Mr. Curtain had sending out messages to people's minds, brain-sweeping them slowly. 

So Reynie, Kate, Sticky and Constance go to the Institute, a school Mr. Curtain had built. They spy on Mr. Curtain and his lately movements to find out what he was doing. I won't tell anymore...read the book!

My favorite part was when Constance swallows the licorice. While Kate was spying, she  threw  a marble at the guard, then sneaked off, accidentally stepping on a piece of licorice left by a guard. When the guard found the marble, he found that the licorice he spat out was gone. So the guards inspected everybody's shoes. Of course, Kate had the piece of licorice stuck to her shoe. Fast as lightning, the tore the licorice off and passed it to her Reynie, who passed it to Sticky, who passed it to Constance. Constance, without any clue, lifted up the licorice and said, "What is this?" Luckily, the guards hadn't seen Constance holding the licorice yet, but they were turning around to where Constance was sitting. At the last minute, Constance realized what she was going to happen, so she swallowed the licorice! The soggy, dirty licorice that had been stepped on Kate's dirty shoes!!!! Blecchhh...