Tonight we discussed The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart at our Books and Snacks meeting and if you can't tell from the title of this blog we also learned Morse Code.
First lets talk about the book; the entire group loved it! We are all looking forward to reading the next instalment in the series and one of our members is reading the last book as we type.
So lets talk characters, the main characters in this series are Reynie Muldoon, George "Sticky" Washington, Kate Weatherall, and Constance Contraire. We don't want to give away too much for those of you who have not read The Mysterious Benedict Society, we will say that these children are very gifted in many different ways; Reynie is analytical and logical, Kate is crafty, clever and resourceful, Sticky is start and brave (even if he doesn't believe it), and Constance has more tenacity than most people three times her size (by the way Constance is no bigger than a fire hydrant). Here is a list of qualities we came up with that made someone gifted : intelligence, resourcefulness, sensibility, talent, clever, logical, will power, and most importantly being yourself and being true to who you are.
Now that we talked about the main characters we want to tell you about the bad guy of the story. Every good mystery has to have a bad guy and this bad guy is really bad. Mr. Curtain (the bad guy) is the creator of The Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened. Now we know what you are thinking-- "Someone who creates a school for enlightened children can't be that bad, right?"- Wrong! Mr. Curtain is very bad and he is all about taking over the world (we'll let you read the book to find out how). The strangest thing about Mr. Curtain is that he has A LOT of similarities to Mr. Benedict.
Another important trait that Mr. Curtain has is that he is very driven, he is so driven he is blinded by the power he has and the power he still needs to take over the world.
During our meeting we also learned Morse Code. We created messages and passed them around to each other, we also tried sending messages using a flash light but found that to be very difficult. If you would like to learn Morse Code on your own go you can go to KidsClick.org and type in Morse Code and click on the third link. This is the site we used to learn and practice Morse Code.
So, how does one become part of The Mysterious Benedict Society? In the novel Reynie, Kate, Sticky, and Constance all answer the same advertisement that asks : "Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?". They find themselves taking a series of mind-bending test (which you can take too when you read the novel). Some of our favorite test are the "white knight" test, the "honesty" test, and the "square foot" test.
Here is a test that we found in the back of one of our copies of The Mysterious Benedict Society. Our group gave it a try and you should too:
1. What does this spell in Morse Code?
._../ ../ _ _ _ / _.
a. Fish
b. Hare
c. Lion
d. Codes are for toads!
2. Rearrange the letters to find the correct work: uttisteni
a. Utensil
b. Institute
c. Who say "uttisteni" is not a word?
d. Tinsel
3. What day did Hawaii become the 50th state of the United States of America?
a. August 21,1959, the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years)
b. February 22, 1960, the 53rd day of the year
c. March 19t, 1958, the 78th day of the year (79th in leap years)
d. October 7, 1957, the 280th day of the year (281st in leap years)
4. Which of the following words does not belong: parsley, mint, nutmeg, or tomato?
a. Parsley
b. Mint
c. Nutmeg
d. Tomato
5. If Kate is taller than Reynie, and Sticky is shorter than Kate, and Constance is the shortest, who is the tallest member of the Mysterious Benedict Society?
a. Sticky
b. Constance
c. Reynie
d. Kate
6 What condition does Mr. Benedict suffer from?
a. His nose is like a rose -- it grows and grows!
b. Narcolepsy
c. Neurology
d. Nitrogen
7. In leap years, what is the 234th day?
a. October 7, World Smile Day
b. February 22, George Washington's Birthday
c. March 15, the ides of March
d. August 21, the same day that Hawaii became the 50th state of the United States of America
8.What word rhymes with orange?
a. Whatever I want!
b. Nothing rhymes with orange!
c. Porridge
d. Courage
9. What is the next number in this pattern: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5?
a. 8
b. 3
c. 9
d. 10
10. To be inquisitive is to be.....
a. A type of pasta
b. Brave
c. Smart
d. Curious
Answer Key 1. c 2. b 3. a 4. d 5. d 6. b 7. d 8. b 9. a 10. d
If you answered 0-3 questions correctly:
You are most like Constance! Although your answers can sometimes be a bit contrary, your creativity is sure to come in handy and your persistence often pays off!
If you answered 4-7 questions correctly:
Your are most like Kate! Your resourcefulness, sense of adventure and agility will be helpful to your friends!
If you answered 7-9 questions correctly:
You are most like Reynie! You are a natural leader and your cleverness will take you far!
If you answer 10-11 questions correctly:
You are most like Sticky! You are extremely knowledgeable about many things and are capable of more than you think!
Our whole group ended up answering 7-9 questions correctly so we are a bunch of Reynies.
We hope to see you at the next Books and Snacks Meeting on May 19th at 7:30pm.
