The Secret Keepers
The Secret Keepers book cover

The Secret Keepers

Hardcover – Illustrated, September 27, 2016

by
Price
$8.71
Format
Hardcover
Pages
512
Publisher
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0275940058
Dimensions
5.88 x 1.63 x 8.63 inches
Weight
1.44 pounds

Description

From School Library Journal Gr 5 Up—Parkour practitioner Reuben Pedley has been having a hard time since his mom lost her job and they had to move to a different (and poorer) part of the city. Friendless, he spends his days avoiding the Directions, the enforcement officers of the mysterious Smoke, who runs the city. On one of these afternoons, he finds a very interesting object after getting himself stuck on a ledge while he was supposed to be at home. What he discovers crammed in the masonry of a wall is an extremely old pocket watch that he is certain is worth a large sum and might just help him and his mother leave the poor part of town. Instead, he realizes that the watch has a little bit of magic in it, which gives him a special ability. Regrettably, the Directions learn of the presence of the watch, and they will stop at nothing to bring it to the Smoke. Only Reuben and his newfound friends have what it takes to solve the mystery of the watch and save their city. VERDICT Fans of Stewart's "Mysterious Benedict Society" and series like it will devour his latest novel. This epic story filled with adventure and twists and turns is certain to keep readers' interest from beginning to end.—Wayne R. Cherry Jr., First Baptist Academy Library, Houston Praise for The Mysterious Benedict Society : "Great cast of characters, lots of cool puzzles and mysteries. This book reminded me of some of the better children's books I grew up with, like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Phantom Tollbooth ." --Rick Riordan Praise for The Secret Keepers : A New York Times Bestseller An Entertainment Weekly Best Middle Grade of the Year Choice ALA Notable Book for Children Amazon #1 Best Book of 2016 for Children Choice Bank Street College of Education 2017 Best Children's Book of the Year *"Stewart... has created an exciting, fully imagined world filled with mystery and danger, where children can have real adventures without parental supervision. He doesn't shy from putting the children in true danger, both physical and moral, keeping readers on tenterhooks until the final page."― Publishers Weekly (starred review) *"Fans of Stewart's Mysterious Benedict Society and series like it will devour his latest novel. This epic story filled with adventure and twists and turns is certain to keep readers' interest from beginning to end."― School Library Journal (starred review) *"Children will be caught up in the mystery, trying to decipher the clues as they follow Reuben and his new-found friends in their race to save the town from a dreadful future.... All in all, this is another winner from Trenton Lee Stewart."― School Library Connection (starred review) "There are enough hidden tunnels, concealed traps, enigmatic secrets, hair-raising surprises, quirky characters, and ethical dilemmas to keep the plot buzzing. Fans of the Mysterious Benedict Society series will welcome Stewart's latest puzzling adventure, whose seemingly ordinary hero proves quite extraordinary."― Kirkus Reviews "The plot builds with a simplicity that slots each element firmly into place before adding complications, leading to a clear, comprehensible line... Stewart is thoroughly in touch with young readers' delight in all things sneaky and hidden."― The Horn Book "Fans of the Mysterious Benedict Society series will be thrilled to see a new Stewart novel, and this adventure easily lives up to the high bar....The Smoke is an excellent main villain, creepy and oozing menace, and his various henchmen are worthy additions to the novel."― The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Trenton Lee Stewart is the author of the award-winning and New York Times bestselling Mysterious Benedict Society series. He lives in Arkansas with his wife and two sons. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • A
  • New York Times
  • Bestseller! By the author of The Mysterious Benedict Society, this heart-pounding mystery adventure is laced with magic and humor.
  • When Reuben discovers an extraordinary antique watch with a secret power, his life takes an intriguing turn. As one secret leads to another, Reuben finds himself torn between his honest nature and the lure to be a hero. Now he is on a dangerous adventure--full of curious characters, treacherous traps, and hairsbreadth escapes--as he races to solve the mystery before it is too late. With fearless Penny, mighty Jack, and the wise Mrs. Genevieve on his side, can Reuben outwit a sly villain called The Smoke and save the city from a terrible fate? In this ingeniously crafted novel, acclaimed author Trenton Lee Stewart invites readers to join the adventure, decipher the clues, and ask themselves the question: Is knowing a secret a gift or a curse?

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(607)
★★★★
25%
(253)
★★★
15%
(152)
★★
7%
(71)
★
-7%
(-71)

Most Helpful Reviews

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Fun adventure

I really enjoyed this book. The mystery and adventure were a blast. I bought this for our home library and decided to read it before sharing with younger members of the family.

*****NOTE: As a parent I would not hand this over to just any child to read on their own. The main protagonist has a lot of qualities that I really do not want to promote to children. Even before the mystery really begins there is a lot of direct disobedience, lying about his activities and putting himself in life threatening situations. The mystery seems to be an excuse to continue this path. While the protagonist occasionally shows remorse, it's very much a "only kids can save the day and parents should be left in the dark" kind of book. This would be a great read aloud where you can discuss the children's unsafe actions, or for a youth that already has that discernment.
36 people found this helpful
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Definitely not up to the standards of the author's other books

If you loved The Mysterious Benedict Society series, you are likely to grab this thinking you'll get more of the same. Unfortunately it's a bit disappointing. The main character, Reuben, never really emerges as a likable or interesting character. He's not bad, he's just not terribly engaging. The "secret" of the watch (I won't reveal it) isn't that exciting. The problem involved in that secret -- why the "bad guy" wants it so much -- seems contrived, as is the mechanism of revealing it to us through a letter left by another character's ancestor. That doesn't really come across as our hero (or any other living character in the story) working out the mystery or discovering the solution on his own. The character of Jack was so confusing that I honestly expected him to turn out to be working for the bad guy - it would have at least made a plot twist. (Spoiler: he isn't.) And while much seems to be made of the lighthouse (including the cover), that has very little to do with the story. By halfway through, I found myself skimming just to get on with things; by that time I figured I'd invested too much time to put the book down altogether, but I was definitely ready for it to end.
25 people found this helpful
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My 10 year old son who doesn't like to read at all LOVES this book

My 10 year old son who doesn't like to read at all LOVES this book!! That really says it all!
19 people found this helpful
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Not a gripping page-turner

This book is far too long and centers too much on the main character, Reuben. He is not a likeable boy - sly, secretive, full of himself, and selfish, which may be a realistic depiction of some children but doesn't make for a sympathetic character. Based on my enjoyment of The Mysterious Benedict Society books, I was truly expecting another 4-person adventure, but this book is about 75% Reuben and 25% Reuben interacting with others. Passages of his secretive derring-do are long and get dull after a while. I found myself skipping over them to the parts where other people interacted with him.

Both my son and my husband are willing to read this one to provide two more points of view. When they have finished, I will come back and update this review.
18 people found this helpful
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Wonderful

This is a wonderful book. Granted, I had a hard time deciding whether to give it 4 or 5 stars, simply because there were parts that ran a bit long. But the story is so good, so much fun, and Stewart is such an amazing writer, and Reuben is such a great main character, that in the end, my 5-star enjoyment outweighed a smallish 4-star pacing issue. I'm already making my way through the Benedict Society backlog.
16 people found this helpful
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AAAWWWEEESSSOOOMMMEEE BOOOOOOKKK!!!

First of all, I am nine years old. After reading The Mysterious Benedict Society series, Trenton Lee Stewart has become one of my favorite authors! I would recommend this book to fans of The Mysterious Benedict Society series as well as Harry Potter. It is very thrilling, and it also builds up suspense. It starts off slow, but once you get to the chapter "Hidden Movements" it starts to pick up the pace. Once you get far enough, you really feel like the main character, Reuben. I would highly recommend this enthralling book!
13 people found this helpful
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A Wonderful World of Secrets in a Stark Setting

I feel like I am coming into Trenton Lee Stewart books through the back door. I have seen his Mysterious Benedict Society book and others for years but never picked one up. That is going to change after reading this book, I am won over. I live in a household of heavy juvenile lit reader from 8 to 48 and we share books a lot. Sometimes you know when you have a great book in your hands, and this is one.

The book is set in a stark and weirdly discordant world. It is hard to set a time period, it sounds like the forties until a digital camera shows up, followed by a pay phone and library research based on indexes and microfische. Add to that talk of alchemists and a little scientific magic and a mafia style protection scheme that controls the city and you have a wonderfully rich yet bleak setting.

The writing is very good and the characters are well crafted. The relationship between the main character and his mother is wonderfully developed and authentic. The suspense and action is engaging enough to keep the pages turning, even after 500 pages. I would say that there is lots of extra content here and plenty of extra pages and occasionally it slows a little, but never enough to lose me. It's long but so good it's hard to put down.

I can't wait to have the kids read this as well to talk about it. And also, I am looking at adding the rest of Stewart's books to our growing library.
8 people found this helpful
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Trenton Lee Stewart does it again.

Brilliant. Clever. Another fascinating read by Trenton Lee Stewart. Fits right in with his Benedict Society books - lovable characters, intriguing plot, fun dialogue. And the illustrations are another little added delight, as if the story itself wasn't already fantastic. Well done, author. I look forward to the next one.
7 people found this helpful
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If you enjoyed The Mysterious Benedict Society than this book is another ...

If you enjoyed The Mysterious Benedict Society than this book is another great choice. If you haven't read Trenton Lee Stewarts series, you should!!
7 people found this helpful
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Bland

While I am positive that fans of this author's Mysterious Benedict Society will find plenty to love in the author's latest work, I have to admit that I was disappointed. At a whopping 500 plus pages, this story took forever to get going and failed to offer up many unique story elements, instead telling a story that was surprisingly bland and straight forward. The author did create episodes of suspense that were actually quite exciting, but then the narrative would once again get bogged down and I would find myself skimming ahead to find out what happens next. This book made me lose my patience!

Perhaps if a bit more time had been spent on character development and a little less on all the minute actions leading up to each important plot development then I wouldn't have found this book so ponderous. At it's heart, The Secret Keepers is a good story, and the author is obviously a fine writer. It's these considerations that prompt me to sneak this rating up to a three star. Still, I can't say I enjoyed this novel, or found it to be a very exciting read. I doubt if I will be recommending it to young readers, just like I doubt that many young readers will be able to hang past the first 150 pages, which is how long it takes for this novel to offer up anything of interest. Just barely okay, this is one bland, rather uninspired effort.
5 people found this helpful

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