The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict

June 25, 2012
In this latest installment of Stewart’s Mysterious Benedict Society series, nine-year-old Nicholas—boy genius and unfortunate narcoleptic—is in quite the predicament when he’s shipped off to a new orphanage where bullies reign supreme and nobody seems to like him or his oddly shaped nose. But soon, Nicholas is working to solve a complex mystery with far-reaching consequences. Narrated by Del Roy, this audio edition never fails to entertain. Roy’s considerable vocal abilities are on display as he creates an intricate portrait of Nicholas. His narration easily commands the listener’s attention; without so much as a slight shift in tone or dialect Roy is able to ratchet up the intensity. Ages 8–up. A Little, Brown hardcover.

January 15, 2012
Stewart fills in the back story on the narcoleptic genius founder of the Mysterious Benedict Society (2007), planting him amid fellow orphans in an old country mansion. The leisurely, discursive tale takes young Nicholas-- "a boy of whimsical mind, to be sure (though whimsy was not the half of it, nor even the beginning)"--into the financially troubled Rothschild's End ("or 'Child's End, as it is often abbreviated"). There, along with the customary sets of brutal bullies, cowed children and myopically semi-competent staff, he encounters his first library, his first real friend and exciting hints of a lost treasure. His search for this last is complicated by his affliction, which is triggered by any strong positive emotion, as well as the fact that he's locked into a storeroom every night and also continually at risk from the aforesaid thugs. Being smarter than everyone else put together as well as mechanically gifted, though, he turns every challenge into an opportunity and by the end has found the treasure (which turns out to something much better than money), saved the orphanage and forced a truce with the bullies. More significantly, having seen kindness and compassion in action "[h]e might not know what he wanted to be when he grew up, but he knew with absolute certainty how he wanted to be." Admirable insight, despite being conveyed by a lad who comes across as more a super-precocious, psychologically astute preteen than a credible 9 year old. (Fiction. 11-13)

COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 1, 2012

Gr 4-8-The childhood of the brilliant and kindhearted leader of The Mysterious Benedict Society is fleshed out in this prequel to the popular series. Nine-year-old Nicholas Benedict is shuffled to yet another orphanage where he's sure to be teased for his intellect, disruptive nightmares, and struggle with narcolepsy. Sure enough, the resident gang makes him their latest target. Mr. Collum, the orphanage director, singles Nicholas out because of his night terrors and locks him in the attic each evening. After creating his own skeleton key in metal-working class, he begins sneaking out after dark to take solace in the library. He cannot resist entering Mr. Collum's locked office, where he finds the former director's diary, which describes a secret treasure room. This is the opportunity that Nicholas has been waiting for: a chance for the kind of financial freedom that will protect him from tyrannical adults and dim-witted bullies forever. While children new to the series, might get mired down by the amount of detail, fans will be thrilled with the rich backstory of a beloved character.-Alison O'Reilly, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, NY

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2012
Grades 4-6 *Starred Review* Meet Nicholas Benedict, a skinny nine-year-old orphan with a lumpy nose, an extraordinary intellect, and an inconvenient tendency to fall asleep when he is excited. Newly arrived at his latest orphanage (Rothchild's End, ominously shortened to 'Child's End), Nicholas quickly learns to avoid the Spiders (a gang of bullies) as best he can. Meanwhile, he secretly searches for the treasure rumored to be hidden in the dilapidated mansion and finds a couple of steadfast friends. With courage and ingenuity, he solves the mystery at the heart of the orphanage and even sets in motion a plan to defang the Spiders. This prequel to The Mysterious Benedict Society (2007) gives readers a reason to fall in love with the series all over again. Fans of the series will find here much that they loved in the opening volume: adventures, danger, cleverness, dry wit, and good-hearted characters at the center of the action. The novel is long, true, but many readers will find themselves reluctant to reach the end; and while Stewart leaves an opening for sequels about Nicholas as a child, this invigorating novel stands on its own. Two hundred years after Dickens' birth, this orphan story plays notes in a familiar key but creates its own memorable tune. HIGH DEMAND BACK STORY: The popularity of The Mysterious Benedict Society and its sequels provides a built-in audience for this. Name recognition!(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

March 1, 2012
Nicholas Benedict, brilliant narcoleptic mentor of the eccentric, puzzle-loving Mysterious Benedict Society (The Mysterious Benedict Society, rev. 3/07; and sequels), is here the focus of a story set in his own childhood. Bounced to yet another orphanage, nine-year-old Nicholas discovers a mystery to be solved but also a gang called the Spiders who bully and humiliate him. Well, they try to: with his powers of observation and prodigious intellect, Nicholas stays one jump ahead of them while he and John, his only friend, race the grasping orphanage director to find the hidden treasure they hope will rescue them from orphanage life. Stewart balances the elements of his story beautifully, using the mystery puzzle to drive the plot while heightening tension through encounters with the Spiders and deepening the tenderness by following Nicholas's emotional development. Stewart handicaps the advantage of Nicholas's almost superhuman intellect by challenging him with uncontrollable narcolepsy and the unfolding realization that even his genius is susceptible to being led astray by his feelings. It is this very human, very relatable realization that really opens up the story after a chance encounter at the climax, leading to the kind of entirely earned, feel-good ending that Mysterious Benedict Society fans have come to expect (and love) from master storyteller Stewart. anita l. burkam

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)