The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict: The (Fictional) Story of a Young Genius

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The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict: Stewart, Trenton ...
Recently, I read The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict, which is the prequel to The Mysterious Benedict Society series. I know it is probably tiring to have back-to-back blog posts on the same series, but this book is like an optional prequel. In the The Mysterious Benedict Society series, the main characters are these really smart kids, each with individual talents. However, they work with Mr. Benedict, who oversees the actions of the children. The main series books (there are 4) don’t really cover much about Mr. Benedict’s past or background, but The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict is solely about Mr. Benedict, specifically his childhood. 
In the book, Nicholas Benedict, a nine year old, is transferred to a different orphanage called Rothschild’s End, an understaffed, underfunded orphanage where the kids are assigned double the “normal” amount of chores. Unfortunately for Nicholas, he has a rare, untreatable serious condition called narcolepsy which causes him to fall asleep unexpectedly throughout the day, and also leads to him having horrific nightmares. Because of his strange condition, he is picked on constantly by a band of bullies at the orphanage. However, each time the bullies seek him out, he manages to outsmart them, such as hiding a medal plate under his shirt to protect him from a punch, or luring them into a dark room and then locking the door behind them. Shortly after Nicholas arrives, he realizes the director of Rothchild’s End, Mr. Collum, is acting very strangely. After poking around, Nicholas soon realizes that the deceased owners of the manor, Mr. and Mrs. Rothschild, had left a sizable fortune behind and realizes that this hidden fortune could also help him live a comfortable life. He races to find the treasure and makes some unexpected friends along the way, but the treasure that Nicholas eventually stumbles upon is the most unexpected of all. 
This book is one of my personal favorites because of the intelligence of Nicholas. He is able to think things through very quickly, which is already obvious in the main series. However, this book focuses on him, and I especially like how the author sometimes walks the reader through Nicholas’s thought processes. Additionally, his intelligence often leads to funny outcomes, such as locking the orphanage bullies in a dark room using rope. 
Throughout the story, there is a cloud of secrecy around the treasure that just doesn’t seem to part. For example, Nicholas initially investigates newspapers and old books from the orphanage library, but is unable to find any information on the whereabouts of the treasure. After sneaking out at night, he finds an empty observatory that leads him down another rabbit hole. Finally, he even gets permission to leave the orphanage to go to a library archive, which also yields little information. This plot structure was interesting because of the secrecy. Usually, mystery books have plot developments, but the “developments” in this story never seem to lead anywhere. 
I would highly recommend that you read this book, especially if you enjoy comedy or a little mystery. The author is clever with the narration and portrays Nicholas in a way that I really enjoyed. All in all, I would rate this book 9/10!

Comments

  1. anyaktMay 20, 2020 at 2:49 PM

    I have also read the Benedict Society series but I was unaware that this book existed. From your review it sounds like a great book that i may just have to check out! I liked your analysis of his character and story and I think it would be really interesting to see what things connected with aspects of the other books while reading this. Great post!

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  2. TeoMay 21, 2020 at 3:04 PM

    Good job on this blog post! I really liked your summary, it gave me a really good idea of what the book was like, and it made it seem very interesting. I also found the part where you gave the examples of the book differing from other mystery books interesting as well. Most mystery books all have a similar format, so it sounds cool to have something a little bit different.

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