Books
They're All Over the PlaceBooks. Mr. Benedict's house is crammed with them—they fill shelves, cover desks, hold up a potted violet, take up chairs, and are even stuffed in the piano, where the "s...
TV
It's Not All BadHey—there's some good stuff on TV, and no one—not Shmoop, not Trenton Lee Stewart, not even Mr. Benedict—is saying you need to give up television if you want to be smart and p...
Weather Imagery
A Pretty Common Literary DeviceFrom Kate Wetherall's name to Milligan's weatherbeaten appearance, Trenton Lee Stewart is having a bit of fun with the weather in The Mysterious Benedict Society. Of...
The Bridge
In Stonetown Harbor, there's a bridge that connects the mainland to Nomansan Island, and the kids have to cross it in order to get to the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened (or LIVE, or—...
Sticky Polishing His Spectacles
From the first moment that Reynie meets him, Sticky falls back on his anxious habit of polishing his spectacles so often that it eventually becomes a symbol of his nervousness. So as soon as we see...