Reviewed by Brown Bear, age 12:

When I first saw this book, I looked at the jacket blurb and got an entirely incorrect first impression, as almost all of my first impressions are. I thought I would not enjoy the book because I thought I knew what kind of book it was. It thought it would be very typical and predictable.

It was not typical and it was not predictable in any way.

Emma-Jean Lazarus is suddenly faced with many difficulties. Emma-Jean doesn’t understand other kids. She considers them illogical and she knows that some are very rude. She keeps her distance from her classmates, observing them but never really interacting. But, despite this, when Colleen Pomerantz, whom she discovers sobbing over the bathroom sink at her school, asks desperately for her help with a problem of her own, Emma-Jean decides to help her.

On top of this, a boy named Will Keeler is being injustly picked on by a teacher, and she decides to help him as well. Emma-Jean solves both of their problems using methods involving forgery and trickery. But what happens when her deception is found out? Will Emma-Jean decide that getting into other people’s business, even with their permission, is a bad idea? Will she go back to the Emma-Jean she was before she walked in on Collen crying in the bathroom?

I enjoyed this book very much because A) The kids in it were exactly my age, which pleased me, B) It was original and wasn’t too reminiscent of any other books, and C) It had many different angles, so I never grew bored.

I don’t know what my favorite Cybil nominee is yet, but this one was one of the best I’ve read.

Sherry’s Thoughts: When Emma-Jean Lazarus’s classmates taunt her and call her “strange”, she and her mother look up the word in the Oxford English Dictionary, “kept out on her mother’s dresser for handy reference.”

The second definition for strange is “extraordinary, remarkable, singular.” Emma-Jean and her mother decide that the description is quite accurate as applied to Emma-Jean, and they further decide that Emma-Jean should take such an epithet as a compliment rather than an insult. The “strange” thing about the episode is that Emma-Jean does deal with all her problems just so logically.

Emma-Jean reminds me of the TV detective, Monk. She’s never labelled with OCD or Asperger’s or any other of the multitude of labels we give to those have strange (and remarkable) personalities, and that’s a strength of the novel. I’m not like Emma-Jean, but I can identify. Which of us isn’t extraordinary, remarkable, and singular in the unique way God created each of us, and which of hasn’t known the feeling of not fitting in with the crowd?

Emma-Jean learns and grows over the course of the novel, and at the same time she remains a singular, remarkable young lady. I agree with Brown Bear Daughter that this book was one of the best of the Cybil nominees I’ve read.

Reviewed by Betsy-Bee, age 8:

Cork was a muskrat and Fuzz was a possum. They both like it when they win a game. Fuzz always won and Cork wanted to win. And he finally did. It made me think about when my family always wins and I don’t. But eventually I do. Fuzz had longer legs then Cork; Fuzz was better at stickball than Cork and he was better at tackle ball. But Cork can swim and Fuzz can’t and he was very, very good at hide-and-seek. But there was a game that they both could win: A three-legged race!

Sherry’s thoughts: I read Cork & Fuzz: Good Sports, too, and I thought it was an entertaining and delightful easy reader. Cork and his friend Fuzz are personable characters, and the words themselves are difficult enough to be challenging (level 3), but with some repetition for phonetic and sight word practice.

This easy reader has been nominated for the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Fiction. Do you have a favorite children’s book published in 2007? Nominations are still open in the following categories: Fantasy and Science Fiction, Graphic Novels, Fiction Picture Books, Middle Grade Fiction, Middle Grade and Young Adult Nonfiction, Nonfiction Picture Books, Poetry, and Young Adult Fiction.

Reviewed by Karate Kid, age 10:

How to steal a dog? Well, this book doesn’t really tell how to steal a dog, it tells why to steal a dog. Here we go, there is a girl named Georgina, and her little brother is named Toby. They are very poor and live in a car. Their father left them, leaving only a roll of quarters and a mayonaise jar with a bunch of crumpled dollar bills. That wasn’t much to live on and Georgina’s “Mommy” didn’t make too much money. One night, Georgina saw a sign, Small Dog Lost! Reward: $500 . That got Georgina thinking, what if she stole a dog, waited until she saw reward signs, and returned it for money! She asked her mom if 500 dollars would be enough to get a real home. Her mom said probably. Georgina’s heart leaped and she told Toby (her brother, remember) her plan. The next day they looked all over the neighborhood for dogs that wouldn’t bark, bite, or chew their leash off and run away. Finally, on a street called Whitington Road, they found it. A house that looked so good on the outside… with a dog on the porch. It was so inviting that Georgina imediatly whistled for him and he came right over! They picked him up and took him across the highway to an old house in the woods. there he stayed . . . for awhile. . . I am not telling you what happens next; I’ve given away enough already! Read it, you’ll love it!

This book and many other great reading adventures have been nominated for the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Fiction. Do you have a favorite children’s book published in 2007? Nominations are still open in the following categories: Fantasy and Science Fiction, Graphic Novels, Fiction Picture Books, Middle Grade Fiction, Middle Grade and Young Adult Nonfiction, Nonfiction Picture Books, Poetry, and Young Adult Fiction.

Four exceptional children:
Sticky Washington, the boy with a glue-like memory.
Kate the Great Weatherall, or The Great Kate Weather Machine as she would prefer to be called.
Reynie Muldoon, the leader with a knack for figuring out puzzles.
Cranky Constance whose salient talent is that of finding the negative in everything and telling everybody about it, loudly and sometimes in verse.

Their Mission: To save the world, of course.

Their Enemy: Ledroptha Curtain, arch-villain whose goal is control of the world and whose methods are almost impossible to resist.

Their Friends: Mr. Benedict, Mysterious Milligan, Rhonda Kazembe, and Pencil Woman Number Two.

Can four children infiltrate the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened (L.I.V.E.), find out what Mr. Curtain is doing, how he is doing it, and how to stop him before he takes over the world?

I loved this book. It reminded me first of last year’s Kiki Strike —without the feminist agenda. In The Mysterious Benedict Society, just in Kiki Strike, four children form a team to fight evil, each has his own special abilities, and the adventure never quits. But in Benedict the children are two boys and two girls, and there’s never any hint of boys against girls or that obnoxious phrase “girl power.”

I think, for Harry Potter fans, there are some HP echoes, too, although I can’t be sure since I’m the only reader in North America who hasn’t read Harry Potter. (Constance and I share a stubborn streak.) Anyway, the idea of an elite group of children with special abilities who are tasked with learning to use their talents and finding a way to save the world seems to me to be straight out of the HP world.

Other themes in the books include: facing fear, finding and cherishing family, and teamwork. Each of these motifs is played out in the course of an adventure that keeps the reader turning the pages to see what will happen next. The Mysterious Benedict Society is Mr. Stewart’s first novel for children, and it’s a corker. I can hardly wait to read more books by this author.

Oh, and Computer Guru Son, who is a Decemberists (musical group) fan, immediately recognized the cover art as the work of Carson Ellis who also does the album cover art for the Decembrists. Here’s an interview with Ms. Ellis, if you’re interested.

Two more things you’ll understand only if you’ve already read the book: I really liked the revelation about Connie at the end of the book, and I didn’t guess it at all. And did anyone else have the brains and the time to figure out the riddle at the end of the book concerning Mr. Benedict’s first name? I must be dense because I still have no idea.

Oh, I also liked the fact that the book actually ends. The author may have left some room for a sequel, but in our mania for sequels and series we’ve gone way overboard, IMHO. I’m sort of tired of the book that never ends but only promises to do so possibly at some time in the future, and this one was a satisfying change. Nice ending, and I’m game for a possible sequel with some of the same characters or for something completely different from Mr. Stewart next time around.

The Curiosity Chronicle: An Interview With Trenton Lee Stewart.

Other reviews:

Renee’s Book of the Day: “I did enjoy the book a lot and definitely believe that ten- or eleven- year olds would drink this book right up. It’s full of puzzles, intrigue, evil plots, bullies, sinister institutions, action, humor, and warmth.”

Jen Robinson’s Book Page: “I would have adored this book when I was 10 or 11. The Mysterious Benedict Society is a sure winner for middle grade readers, boy and girls, especially if they like puzzles, or reading about mystery and adventure.”

N.D. (Nathan David) Wilson, the author of this adventure story, is the son of pastor Douglas Wilson. I read some of the younger Wilson’s satirical writing in Credenda/Agenda a long time ago, and I realized then that both Mr. Wilsons had a wicked sense of humor. This satirical streak shows itself in Leepike Ridge infrequently, but still appears at times.

I really liked the following exchange, so very representative of the conversations that take place every day between practical, reasonable husbands and totally frustrated wives. In this case, Elizabeth’s son, Tom, is missing, and her male friend, Jeffrey, has been called in to help find Tom:

“So,” Jeffrey said, “where do you want me to look?”
Elizabeth sighed. She was trying very hard not to yell. Jeffrey had come when she’d called, and he’d nodded while she’d described her early morning search along the stream and up the hill behind the house. But he had yet to look anywhere himself.
“You’re a guy, you tell me,” Elizabeth said. “Where would you have gone?”
“I hid in the basement once. But you don’t have a basement, do you?”
“No, Jeffrey, we don’t,” she said. “The house is on a rock. Most people don’t bother digging a basement into solid rock.”
Jeffrey stared out over the small valley floor with its stream and willows. And then he looked at the ridge on the other side and up at the ridge on the other side and up at the ridge behind the house with its small peak.
“Any more ideas?” Jeffrey asked.
“Jeffrey, why don’t you just start looking? I’ve already looked everywhere I could think of.”
“I think its important that we do this rationally.”
Elizabeth shut her eyes and took a long breath. “Jeffrey.”
Jeffrey reised her hands. “No, hear me out. I have an idea. Let’s walk through a number of theoretical options before we make an applied search..”
“Jeffrey,” Elizabeth said, standing up.
“Yes?”
“Let me know when you’ve figured it out. I’m going to follow the stream.” Elizabeth was already walking down the stairs.
“Do you want me to call the police or local radio stations or anything?”
“Wait till I get back.”
“What should I do?” Jeffrey asked.
“The laundry,” Elizabeth said.
Jeffrey watched her tromp through the tall grass toward the stream, and then he got up and went inside. He couldn’t find any laundry.

Wonderful. I had my two oldest daughters read that passage, and they both laughed appreciatively. I had Computer Guru Son read it, and he looked at me and said, “So? What?” Now you know why Leepike Ridge will appeal to moms and teachers. I don’t know how Mr. Wilson managed to Get It, but he obviously does.

This take-off on Tom Sawyer, Robinson Crusoe, and The Odyssey should also appeal to boys especially. It has caves, tunnels, hidden treasure, wild water rafting, and wilderness (sort of) survival. There are bad guys, good guys, dead guys, blood, raw food, and near-dismemberment. What more could a boy want in a book? Girls, too. After all, we girls can Get guy stuff, too.

The pacing is good, and although I had a little trouble believing that the foam insert from a refrigerator box would last through the kind of trip that Mr. Wilson describes in the novel, I was willing to suspend disbelief. After all what do I know about it? I’ve never ridden any kind of raft downstream. Some of the other events and circumstances in the book can only be described as inventive and imaginative. A house chained to the top of an enormous rock? A sarcophagus in a cave? In Idaho? Trust me, as strange as it sounds, it all works. At least it did for me. I’m going to read this one out loud to my son. I think we’ll have a great time with it.

Leepike Ridge, by the way, has been nominated for the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Fiction.

More reviews of Leepike Ridge:

From Kathy of Homeschool Buzz.

From Miss Erin.

From Shelf Elf.

This book is about Evan. He is in the fourth grade this year and guess what? His sister, Jessie is too! You see, she always had been smarter than him. And she skipped a grade, because of that! He screamed and yelled, and I quote, “I hate you!”! He had always wanted an I-pod, but never had the money to get one. So he, as he and his sister always did when he wasn’t mad at her, made a lemonade stand! But the bad thing is, that so did his sister! Later that day they challenged each other to a…

This is when two or more people make two or more lemonade stands to make money with. Whoever makes a hundred dollars by the end of summer (that was five days from then), wins and takes all the money that the other made, too! If neither of them makes $100.00, then who ever has the most, wins! But remember, it has to be made from lemonade stands! Jessie’s motivation is she wants to get her old big brother back; Evan’s motivation… hmm… he just wants to prove that he is smarter than his sister!

This book is not only a good reading book, but it also gives some good ideas for your own lemonade stand. On the last page, they have “Ten Tips For Turning Lemons Into Loot!”, that is, a bunch of business ideas for making a successful stand! I really liked this book and I hope that you do to! So get it at a library and read it!