"Rules and schools are tools for fools - I don't give two mules for rules."
Courtesy of the fictional two-year-old Constance Contraire, we get that wonderful line to hurl (figuratively, of course; and it may not be smart to do even that in many cases) at teachers who give us students limitations of some kind. The line comes from the first book in The Mysterious Benedict Society series by Trenton Lee Stewart; I believe I mentioned this series' prequel a while ago: The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict. Although nothing can compare with the epicness of the prequel, the original trilogy itself is still pretty awesome.
This series, as you might guess, is centered around the group that calls themselves The Mysterious Benedict Society. It consists of two boys, both eleven in the first book, and two girls, one two and one twelve in the first book. They're brought together by a series of tests that Mr. Benedict has devised in his search for a team of gifted children.
The tests themselves are pretty cool, and they're only the beginning of the story. It starts off with one mostly normal test with a few oddball questions. However, very, very few children pass it, so there must be more to it than appears.
The next text is much more complex. The students are tested on kindness, integrity, and ability to follow directions. However, Reynie is the only one to completely follow through on the last one, so clearly there's some leeway in these tests. Mr. Benedict knows there's more than one way to be gifted, after all.
Two more tests follow, both wonderful to watch as well, and both solved differently based on the individual's unique talents. Maybe tomorrow I'll give you a rundown of each child's personality and/or how they responded to each test.
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