Book Review - The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart

Read aloud to the 9yo

The Good

Nicholas stands up to many bullies both for himself and other children.  He works hard, is a good friend and empathetic.  At multiple points Nicholas recognizes how a child must be feeling just by the look on their face, and he is very attuned to other people's emotions.  He keeps a cheerful attitude despite extensive problems.  He learns sign language in order to communicate with a deaf girl.  He finally realizes that not all people are any which way; that no one is completely good or evil or right or wrong, and this shows itself in increased empathy.

The Bad

There is lying in the story, or stretching of the truth.  The adults are incredibly blind to the cruelty of the bullies.  Nicholas and his friend sneak out after dark many times, and Nicholas makes a copy of a master key and lets himself into rooms to read documents and generally be nosy.  There are references to parents dying (the children live in an orphanage), to siblings dying in 'the war' (this is a parallel land so not a war we have experienced), to a large company cheating a poor family out of money, and various other indignities.  Children are forced to wear 'dunce caps' and other outdated styles of punishment.  Nicholas is locked in his room.  He experiences nightmares and refers to the old woman in his dreams as 'The Old Hag'.

My Thoughts

You can read my thoughts about the first book in The Mysterious Benedict Society series here.  This title is a prequel to all the other Society books and follows the childhood story of Mr. Benedict, who in all the other books takes a firm back seat as a boring adult (useful in the story primarily to bring all the children together and provide access to things the children need).  I was never particularly taken by Mr. Benedict as an adult, frankly; I think the author intended it to be that way, for us to focus our interest on the children and how they solved mysteries.  But in this story he twists that on its head and makes us remember that every stodgy old adult was once also a mischevious, odd, brilliant little child themselves.  And we loved it!  Following Nicholas through his trials and tribulations and adventures and so forth was compelling and heart wrenching and wonderful.

The story focuses on Nicholas arriving at yet another orphanage - he seems to go through them rather quickly.  He comes expecting the worst, and it is pretty clear that he will get it.  His nemesis comes in the form of a gang calling themselves The Spiders, who are cruel, but mostly in stupid and rather unimaginative ways, although in typical Stewart fashion he builds a lot of dark, gloomy suspense into the story to make you think much worse things will happen than actually do.  Nicholas soon discovers that the director of the orphanage has discovered a diary which belonged to the original owner of the mansion, and the diary makes repeated reference to 'a treasure'.  The director is determined to find the treasure but now, so is Nicholas.  He is certain that with enough money, he can finally escape the endless round of dreariness that is his life, and make a fresh start.

Nothing in the book really ends up being as clear cut as we initially think, and there are several instances where we have a sharp about-turn in the story and the way things might have gone is altered drastically.  The story does have several parts where things rather...drag is a harsh word but yes, drag.  At least, comparably.  Certainly not in a way that would make you feel as if the story wasn't worth reading - just that there are bursts of excitement and interest and then several chapters of nothing much of note.  But in essence - an excellent book for the 8-12 set who don't mind a bit of creepy atmosphere on occasion.