Summary: A talented quartet of children have to go to a boarding school to save the world from The Emergency.
I have been looking for shows to watch with my kids that we all enjoy besides Bluey (the best cartoon out there right now). I saw a recommendation for the Mysterious Benedict Society on Disney+ and so we watched it together. I liked it more than my kids did. They watched, but I think it was a little bit old for them (they are 6 and 7). I enjoyed the show and by the 3rd or 4th episode (of 7), I picked up the first book in the series. The first book covers the main content of the show, although there are differences and a couple of details from later books come out in the show. (A few spoilers below.)
Mister Benedict is an eccentric genius who has recruited the four children to become students at a boarding school. The school is run by Benedict’s equally brilliant twin brother. One of the details that is different between the book and the show is that in the book both are unaware of the existence of one another until midway through the book, but in the show they grow up in an orphanage until Benedict is adopted at about the same age as the kids in the book. Benedict has a loving family and is nurtured and he then becomes a nurturing caring adult. But his brother Mister Curtain, becomes power hungry and attempts to control everyone around him. In the show, Benedict feels guilty for not doing more for his brother.
These books feels a little like a British fiction, with the boarding schools and abstracted technology that is both modern and without cell phones or the internet. Maybe it is just that the books can feel a little like a non-fantasy version of Harry Potter. Brilliant, gifted children are nothing new to children’s literature. But one of the ongoing themes of the books is that these children need one another to be successful. They don’t always agree, or even like one another, but their skills fit together and as they learn to trust, not only themselves, but one another, they are more successful. There is a goodness to the children. They believe in truth and so ‘The Emergency’ which is concerning for everyone else hits them differently. There is a mind control device, which requires children for its use. Those that are not worried about truth are more susceptible to mind control. The children receive the mind control signals as discomfort, but it also makes them grumpy and snappish.
Any series of magnificent children requires a bit of luck and adult support. There are a couple of twists that I did not at all see coming. And the slight differences from the storyline between the book and the show make me wonder how the show will handle later books. It took me about two weeks to read the main four books in the series. There is also a prequel about Nicholas Benedict as a child which I have not read.
The biggest weakness of the first book is that it drags a bit. Later books may go a little bit in the other direction and have too much focus on the action or the quest. The strength of the books is the characters. They are good, they are not perfect, but they care for one another and those around them. They take responsibility for doing what they can and are genuinely selfless in the best sense of the word. Constance Contraire, one of the four is a grump. In someways that is her gift and she is not always pleasant or good, but the book has one explanation for her grumpiness that the show does not and I think the lack of that explanation will be a problem in later seasons if the show continues.
The fourth book in the series is set about 6-8 years later when the kids are approaching adulthood and that development of them together as a group is a big part of that book, but also is what I really like about the series. I think the series is probably best for kids that are at least 10. Some younger kids will enjoy it, but I think the puzzles and riddles and focus on character development will likely drag too much for younger kids. These are content appropriate books for kids. There is violence, but it is mostly cartoon-like violence. There is tension, but I think most kids will handle the tension well. These are pre-teen kids in the first three books and there is no romance or innuendo. I read these all as kindle books, so I cannot comment on the audiobooks.
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook. The rest of the books in the series are here. There is also a kindle edition with all books (including the prequel) together Omnibus Kindle Edition that is just over 1800 pages.