The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

Let me start by publicly saying that I love Goodreads.com. If you aren't yet a member, you should be. Its a great website where you can create bookshelves for yourself (helps me keep track of the books I want to read), write reviews, read reviews, and generally just be part of a great reading community. And it was on Goodreads that I first heard of The Mysterious Benedict Society.

This piece of young adult fiction revolves around four children who all answer an odd ad found in the paper--encouraging gifted children to come be a part of "special opportunities." Turns out these opportunities land them on a special team of kids who are to go undercover and help stop a crazy person from doing crazy things and taking over the world. I guess that was sort of a spoiler but hopefully vague enough it won't give too much away.

As is usual with me and books I love, I found the characters in Stewart's novel absolutely DE-lightful. Bald little Sticky Washington, pint-sized Constance Contraire, the mysterious Mr. Benedict and his green suit...all inviting characters, well-written enough that I could picture them without illustrated help. The story moves along at a pretty good clip. My only complaint was that I could often predict what was going to happen before it did. I'm a fan of true "twists" that leave me shocked. Little of these twists did. Still, the book was an entertaining-enough read that I would recommend it to most anyone. Fun for all ages!

B+