Reddit reviews The Mysterious Benedict Society (The Mysterious Benedict Society (1))

It's not specifically to do with overcoming trauma, but I'd highly recommend Savvy by Ingrid Law. It's a wonderful tween coming of age story about a girl who is born into a family that all develop a random superpower that appears at age 13.

I also really enjoyed The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. It's about a group of talented kids (some of whom are orphans) who band together to form kind of a super team. They all have different skills and family backgrounds, and it's got great dialogue, characters, and humour.

It sounds like she's going to have a wonderful new family anyway. Best of luck to you all.

I have a 9-year-old daughter, too. For Roald Dahl, don't miss Danny the Champion of the World, and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More (the latter is for older kids, so I'm not sure about the six more, but Henry Sugar is indeed wonderful).

Redwall is a bit on the graphic side. Best skim one first. A substitute for the time being is the Warriors series. My wife and daughter read them independently in unison (my wife reading after her bedtime) and discussed them.

Harry Potter is conspicuously missing from your list. Intentional? I hope you haven't pegged this one as having cruelty as its main theme. It's jam-packed with great themes of friendship, loyalty (within reason), trust, love of parents and family, standing up for what's right, and a whole bunch more. It's one of those book series you want a notebook for, to jot down quotes because there are so many gems.

Dear America is a fictional diary series of girls living in various periods in history.

The Mary Poppins series shouldn't be overlooked. It's quite different from the movie.

I'm putting my money on The Enchanted Forest Chronicles series, first book: Dealing with Dragons. The head-strong princess has no interest in the idiot prince she's supposed to marry, is quite comfortable once she's in the company of a dragon, and no thank you, she has no need for being rescued.

Also, The Mysterious Benedict Society series. It all starts with a newspaper ad seeking "gifted children looking for special opportunities."

The Replacements IS weird, but it could be something you might be interested in the future.

Unwind will make you think, that's for sure...maybe once you've hit a couple fun books, that's something you could think about reading! :)

You also might like The Mysterious Benedict Society; here's the synopsis from Amazon:
"Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?"

When this peculiar ad appears in the newspaper, dozens of children enroll to take a series of mysterious, mind-bending tests. (And you, dear reader, can test your wits right alongside them.) But in the end just four very special children will succeed. Their challenge: to go on a secret mission that only the most intelligent and resourceful children could complete. To accomplish it they will have to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules.

As our heroes face physical and mental trials beyond their wildest imaginations, they have no choice but to turn to each other for support. But with their newfound friendship at stake, will they be able to pass the most important test of all?

Welcome to the Mysterious Benedict Society.
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Enjoy! Let me know if you need recs in the future - feel free to PM me!

My daughter is just going into 2nd too. If yours reading at a 6th grade level, then I would guess that Magic Tree House books are boring for her? My daughter will only read them if reading them to her little brother (he loves them). The first short chapter books that my daughter really loved were The Boxcar Children. She read a ton of them (there are well over 100). Now, she's seemed to have moved on.

This summer, she's been reading Harry Potter, Lots of Roal Dahl books, Little House on the Prarie books, Lion Witch & Wardrobe books, pretty much anything that we pick up, she'll read. Ask your public librarian for recommendations! We've gotten some good tips from them.

We just ordered a few on Amazon this past week as a friend had recommended some. This one was written by the lead singer of the Decemberists... it's ~550pgs, so a little long, but looks interesting (I kinda want to read it):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062024701/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We've also recently picked up the first of the Mysterious Benedict Society books (upon recommendation of many):

http://www.amazon.com/Mysterious-Benedict-Society-Trenton-Stewart/dp/0316003956/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377206633&sr=8-1&keywords=mysterious+benedict+society

A mental mind fuck can be nice.

Love your enthusiasm by the way. I love it when I find books from a long time ago and reread them.

I absolutely loved this series.

The Mysterious Benedict Society?

Could it be The Mysterious Benedict Society ?

I made a blender hollandaise sauce based on this recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/blender-hollandaise-sauce/

The book that inspired my first attempt at Eggs Benedict: http://www.amazon.com/Mysterious-Benedict-Society-Trenton-Stewart/dp/0316003956/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331486895&sr=8-1

The Mysterious Benedict Society entertained me, maybe it will you too. I haven't read the others, so I don't know if they all hold up as well as the first one did.

I always get a kick out of rereading the Annotated Adventures of Alice in Wonderland, too. (I like puzzle-y books)