Trenton Lee Stewart has written a clever trilogy about four exceptionally gifted children chosen to save the world. Many children responded to Mr.Benedict’s advertisement for “gifted children looking for special opportunities” but only Reynie Muldoon, George “Sticky” Washington, Kate Wetherall, pass the strange tests and are chosen. The three of them are joined by Constance Contraire and make up the Mysterious Benedict Society.

After some training, Mr. Benedict sends the children to the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened (L.I.V.E.) to infiltrate and stop the Sender. A man who uses radio and television transmissions to control the world by mind control. What Benedict does not tell them is that the Sender is his own twin brother, Ledroptha Curtain.

The story has plot twists and odd characters who will keep middle school readers engaged and entertained. Ethical issues and bewildering puzzles the children face make it a book older readers will also enjoy.

Other books in the series include:

• The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey
• The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma

Stewart, Trenton Lee., and Carson Ellis. The Mysterious Benedict Society. Little, Brown, 2007.