The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Reviewed by Sumin
The Mysterious Benedict Society, is an exciting, fast-paced story to read in your spare time. It's full of mysterious imaginings, that makes you think about it all day long. If you're a person who likes fantasies and adventures try reading this book.
The main character of this story is Reynie, an extremely intelligent orphan boy who lives in an orphanage. One day, he saw an advertisement on the newspaper about special opportunities for gifted young children. He passed all the odd tests with three other kids, Kate, Sticky, and Constance, who are also orphans. When they were all gathered together in front of Mr. Benedict, he tells them that all of these tests were for choosing secret agents to solve a huge problem happening in the world now. The huge problem is that Mr. Curtain and his workers, who are at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, are broadcasting messages through TV and Radio, to make everyone think the way Mr. Curtain wants them to think. What the secret agents are supposed to do is to go to the Learning Institute, be as good students as they can, appeal to Mr. Curtain, and become one of the special people who get to know special secret things. Read the book to know how the secret agents saved the world from this trouble.
If you are looking for books with warm, sweet stories that really leave a big impression upon you and really do good things for you, you probably shouldn't spend time reading this book. It does teach you some things, but I think this is a type of book that makes you get stuck in it and totally live in your imaginations until you finish the book. But if you're looking for some fun and if you have a lot of time, I would recommend this book. It's very interesting, and it really expands your imagination.
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
Reviewed by Sumin
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton is a very inspirational book about life. After I read it, I felt like I could stand all the hard things I might have to go through.
The main character, Ponyboy, is the youngest boy in the greasers gang, and he doesn't have parents. The greasers gang is a poor, rough gang. Sodapop, one of his brothers, is a drop out and he works at a gas station, and Darry, another brother, although he was an excellent student, he has to work on loading bricks to be able to live with his brothers. Socs is another group, but they're from rich families. Socs hate greasers, and they attack greasers often. One day, after Ponyboy went to a movie with Johnny, who lives with a drunken dad who spanks him everyday, they were talking at the lot, looking up the stars, and fell asleep. When they woke up, it was very late, and when Ponyboy went in the house, Darry was very mad and he slapped Ponyboy. Angry and surprised, Ponyboy decides to run away with Johnny. But on the way, they meet the Socs. The Socs were trying to drown Ponyboy, so Johnny had to kill him with a switch blade. Now, they really have to run away, or they'll have to go to jail.
The book was published in 1967 when the author was 16, and she wrote this book to tell people that they should "stay gold", which means that we shouldn't give up, we should be hopeful, and be ourselves. Because someone's poor, it doesn't mean that he or she should give up and not keep working.
The author describes feelings so well, that at one moment, I imagined that I were Ponyboy, and almost cried. But sometimes, there were things that didn't quite seem to make sense in Ponyboy's world, but that's probably because the author was only a teenager when she wrote it. Also, there's some violence in it, and the mood is dark, so I think it's about right for middle or high schoolers.
Be inspired by this book, and gain hope again. If you're exhausted, and don't know what to do, try reading this book.