The Mysterious Benedict Society

This week I decided to pick a book called The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. I have been recommended to read this book from my siblings, and I have to say it has started really good! Looking at this book, I got a little scared because of its 486 pages. This week I only got up to page 107. The story pulls you into the plot that I was just turning page after page. I had to pace myself because I did have homework and I knew if I kept reading I was not going to do it!

The Mysterious Benedict Society is about children that have to pass a series of mind-bending tests. The first test is a paper text that had different questions like if they watch T.V. or the speed of two trains. The second test had harder questions like the territories of the Naxcivan Autonomous Republic and the Nagorno- Karabakh region. Reading this test made me have a panic attack, and I wasn't even taking the test! The third test was a little strange also. The test taker had to walk across a room and not step on the blue or black squares. The last test was to walk through a door and get to the staircase as quickly as they can. The trick is there are hundreds of tiny rooms in between the front door and the staircase. These rooms look identical, and each has four doors. At the end of all the tests, four children pass all the tests. The four children are Reynie Muldoon, Sticky Washington, Kate Wetherall, and Constance Contraire. These children then meet the man behind the curtain and who put them through this testing, Mr. Benedict. I just stopped when the four kids find out that they passed the tests for a secret mission! The questions I had when reading this mystery was who Mr. Benedict is? What is this secret mission? Who exactly are these children that are so smart?

I have been looking at the book a little differently than the other books I have read. I have read the chapters like a writer. I wanted to see how much emotion and feeling Trenton Lee Stewart put into the story and into his characters. Throughout the text, I saw a lot of feelings and emotions on every page. Stewart showed this through similes and descriptive words. One paragraph stood out to me when I was reading, " rain was slashing against the windows, wind groaned in the chimneys, and odd drafts sent papers flying from desktops and skittering across floors. The blackened sky outside seemed to creep gloomily into the house, dimming the lamps and lengthening their shadows; and along with the howling chimneys was heard the growling of thunder, low and menacing and close at hand, as if a tiger prowled the dark rooms beyond their walls" (Stewart 91). Even though this quote is really long it shows how to make your words show feeling. The words give the readers a sense of sadness with the darkening sky and howling chimneys. This will create a good read aloud for a mini-lesson.

This lesson would be for 3rd or 4th grade. I would read the quote and give a little background knowledge about descriptive words. To provide the background for descriptive words by providing examples of where the descriptive words may be in a passage and why it is essential to use. Descriptive words allow the readers to see the words and feel the emotions. Going back to the text from the book, have the students identify the different descriptive words that they hear. Then ask about how those words make the readers feel. Next, go into what a simile is. Talk about how it includes like or as. Go back into the quote and find the simile. I think this lesson be fun for the students. They get to add words that they can choose to enhance the sentences! If you give the students a more exciting word list, they will have an enjoyable time!