The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee StewartLittle, Brown and Company, 2008

This was the sort of book I am not sure if I would have liked as a kid (I can’t remember if I liked adventure-ish books or found them stressful or else just never really read them, other than A Wrinkle in Time), but that I totally enjoy now. It’s full of adventure and riddles and smart characters, funny moments and scary moments and moments of bravery: in short, a book to stay up late reading. It’s the sequel to The Mysterious Benedict Society, in which four very smart children banded together against a very smart villain; in this one, the friends reunite for a global scavenger hunt that turns out to be more serious than they’d expected. I love Reynie and Constance, with their clear assessments of people, and Kate’s pluckiness, and Sticky’s determination: of course, the scavenger hunt teaches the children lessons about themselves and the world, but it’s all such fun, not too heavy-handed.