The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey

THERE COULD POSSIBLY BE SOME SPOILERS TO PEOPLE IN THIS POST. (PROBABLY NOT)
I have been reading a book called the Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart. I've been reading this book for a while now, but I took a break. I've read The Mysterious Benedict Society and it is my favorite book. So far this one gets like a gazillion thumbs up too. I highly recommend them.

What I really wanted to talk about is why I love his books so much. I've given it a lot of thought and I think one of the main reasons is because his characters are so well developed. You either passionately love them or love to hate them. He takes so much time building up a sense of caring and passion for each character even if they are a minor character. He makes you feel like you know the person.

Take Mr. Benedict for example. He doesn't appear much in the book, but he is still a very thick character. (By thick I mean has a lot of aspects and characteristics to him.) (If that makes sense.) Trenton Lee Stuart builds up Mr. Benedict's character by showing relationships and reactions from other characters in the book, so the reader knows that Mr. Benedict is a very kind-hearted, non- selfish, caring, compassionate patient, considerate, and understanding person. He is very good at reading people especially Reynie when he comes to his office to talk to him. He has to be patient to care for his two-year-old adopted daughter. He would never put anyone he cared about at risk to help himself.

His main characters that appear often in the story, such as "Ten Men" develop a certain reputation as the story goes on. (Ten Men are working for the main antagonist and are out to get The Mysterious Benedict Society. They are given their name "Ten Men" because they have ten different ways of hurting people.) They are obviously a huge threat to The Mysterious Benedict Society because they are hurtful, vexatious (mean), and every other negative adjective you could think of. They don't care about what they're doing as long as they are getting paid. They are like the deliberately hurt people because it's fun and you don't care about them version of mercenaries. (Soldiers paid by another country to fight for that country during the American Revolution.)

That is pretty much how awesomely Trenton Lee Stuart develops his characters.
I commented on Noah's BLOG.

Sorry I made the character analysis post in such a tiny font! I just realized that, but I edited it so that is bigger now. :-)

So Yesterday, Chapters Zero - Three

I just started reading this book called So Yesterday by Scott Westerfield. I haven't gotten very far, but I don't like it yet. I think that I don' t like it because it's confusing in the beginning. Put really, I cant' judge a book by the first 17 pages that I've read.

The characters in this book are classified into two categories. Innovators and trend setters. I don't really know what the relationship is supposed to mean, but I think it is kind if weird. Trend setter pay super close attention to detail and brands and stuff like that. I don't know much about the innovators because so far, there is only one that I know of.

Trend setters seem to see the world from a totally and completely different perspective. The title, So Yesterday kind of explains how the trend setters think. Trends get really old for them really fast. For example, here is an excerpt from the book. (The boy, Hunter is on the phone with some lady named Mandy from this focus group he is in (FYI: I think a focus group is a group of kids who are chosen to test a product, but I'm not sure.) and he is with some girl named Jen who he just met when he asked if he could take a picture of her shoes (Probably for the focus group) and here's the excerpt.)

"Okay, Mandy, whatever" I looked at Jen who was scrolling absently through numbers, politely not listening, maybe a little saddened by how old and decrepit her own phone was (at least six months).

Do you see what I mean? My point is that it would be crazy for a person to think a phone was old and decrepit at six months, but apparently not for a trend setter.

I'll let you know more about the book as I keep reading. Bye :-)

The Mysterious Benedict Society Character Analysis

Character Analysis

Constance Contraire -
Appearance - Blond Hair, Short
Personality - Stubborn, rude, cranky, tired, lazy, loving, smart, courageous
Loves - Sleep, Mr. Benedict, her friends

Talents - Being stubborn, figuring out codes, sensing things

Reynie Muldoon -
Appearance - Average Height, Brown Hair
Personality - Nice, smart, helpful, courageous, determined

Loves - Ms. Perumal, his friends, reading

Talents - Figuring out riddles, coming up with ideas, thinking

Kate Wetherthall -

Appearance - Tall, long blond ponytail, carries a red bucket.

Personality - Funny, determined, adventurous, talented, intrepid, laid back

Loves - Milligan, her friends, adventures, secret missions, Her Majesty the Queen

Talents - Quick thinking, running, cheering people up, making things

Sticky (George Washington)

Appearance - average height, bald, wears glasses

Personality, genius, nervous, scared

Loves - Reading, studying, his parents, his friends

Talents - Reading rapidly, figuring things out quickly, speaking, writing, and reading in different languages

These are the main characters in a book that I'm reading called the Mysterious Benedict Society.