My new favorite middle grade mystery series that I'd never heard of before
or the serendipity of library shelves and the brilliance of Andrew Clements in Benjamin Pratt & the Keepers of the School
I hope you enjoy this rare long-form review from me! I’d love to see more kids (and MG fans of all ages) picking up this backlist series. -N
During the last couple of weeks of school I began a project to genrefy my upper level fiction. The final step of reorganization will be when I return to school in August and I will recap and share the process then, but for now I will just say, this process definitely took some research.
As I combed through our shelves, I often found books that I’ve somehow never seen after three school years of book circulation and shelving. This actually happens often. For as much time as I spend with the books and the shelves, it’s always fun when a kid brings up to the checkout desk a book with an eye-catching cover or an intriguing title and I don’t recognize it. Much to many students’ surprise, I haven’t read every book in the library (lol), but it surprises me when I feel like I’ve never even noticed a book before. Especially a book by a well-known author.
Enter this new-to-me series. 🥳 If you are familiar with children’s books, you’ve probably heard of Andrew Clements. He was a prolific author who sadly passed away in 2019. I wrote about his posthumously published sequel to the modern classic Frindle, The Frindle Files last September. We have about a half a shelf of Clements books in my library. I love his books because they are funny, relatable, SHORT, and somehow timeless. But I’d only read a few myself so far, and I assumed they were all what would be categorized as realistic/school stories. When I stumbled upon a series with keys on the spines, my quick research told me that this was actually a mystery series (which just so happens to be my favorite middle grade genre these days). Since it’s pretty backlist, I was able to instantly check out the first book via Libby and start listening. I was hooked immediately (and continue to wonder, why have I never heard of this?).
The series, originally published in 2010, is called Benjamin Pratt and the Keepers of the School, and it’s made up of five short novels: We the Children, Fear Itself, The Whites of Their Eyes, In Harm’s Way, & We Hold These Truths. Several of these are “backordered” on Bookshop.org in paperback and the hardbacks seem even harder to find, but Barnes & Noble and Amazon both sell a paperback boxed set that I will be purchasing so I have my own copies. The audio is fantastic but the books actually have quite a lot of illustrations as well. Here’s the publisher’s blurb:
A 6000-pound wrecking ball is about to demolish Benjamin Pratt’s school…And he only has twenty-eight days to figure out how to stop it. In this fast-paced and action-packed mystery series, Benjamin Pratt and his friends Jill and Robert must figure out who is trying to destroy his school and why. At first having the school demolished to make room for an amusement park sounds pretty awesome. But when Ben stumbles upon the truth behind this grand scheme, and the ancient history buried deep within the school that goes all the way back to the Founding Fathers, he decides he’s got no choice but to stop the bulldozer before it starts and protect his school.
Like most of Clements’ books, it is a school story, but a very different one (and quite the unique school!) with mystery as its primary genre and lots of historical references. As you’ll see there was a lot I loved about this series… for starters, the mystery is actually more of a treasure hunt (so fun!) on the school campus, with intricate puzzles related to the mystery.
Setting & Context
I loved the East Coast vibes. The school is built on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and the school history is very nautical (it was founded by a Captain and designed by a shipbuilder after all) and dates back to the founding fathers (so there is a lot of Revolutionary War trivia and connections woven in). Sailing is a big component of the story and gives the characters some of the knowledge they need to uncover the truth. The more history our characters learn, the more they appreciate their school. There is even a helpful librarian and some particularly cool historical discoveries. Though the series published in 2010, the technology somehow still feels relevant to a modern reader. I don’t quite know how he did it, but Clements successfully wrote this to feel timeless despite the inclusion of some “modern” technology.
Characters
For this reader, Ben is a pitch-perfect middle grade main character. He’s confident but not obnoxious, capable but not above depending on others, in touch with his emotions and family struggles but not depressingly so. I loved the friendship dynamics—with Jill we get the perfect amount of potential middle grade romance added to a great boy-girl friendship, with realistic personality conflicts and mixed signals along with solid teamwork. And with Robert we have a delightful frenemy relationship with a continuous reluctancy on Ben’s part to work with his very smart sailing rival. The villains are sufficiently dislikable (with an overarching corporation behind it all) and even slightly creepy. The three main kids end up connecting with some adults in a way that makes the story a little more realistic (and elderly characters with sass are always a fun addition for me). There are some tougher topics addressed (separated and deceased parents), but they aren’t presented in a heavy-handed way. The separation of Ben’s parents is hard for him, but there is a thread of hope there as well.
Plot
The books are full of hijinx, some madcap and suspenseful moments, and an overarching mystery that spans the whole series. Over the course of the books, the mystery builds on itself with characters being added to the society of Keepers and puzzles upon puzzles layering in. There is a good amount of introspection by the characters as they consider what’s the right thing to do but nothing is didactic or lesson-heavy. It’s very interesting the way the books were all published separately (but all in a span of three years) when in the modern era, I could see the whole thing being published as maybe a duology of two bigger books. But personally I love the format of five shorter, illustrated novels (the longest is 288 pages with a small trim size and plenty of illustrations). It gives me a lot to think about in drafting my own stories. I think this could a great format option as the market seems to be looking for shorter middle grade books.
Readalikes
This series will be great for fans of James Ponti’s books (and now will sit in my mind right next to my fave series, City Spies), the Book Scavenger series, and The Liars Society (with which it shares in common a sailing subplot and sort of secret society as well). It also pairs really well with movies like National Treasure, Finding Ohana, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Indiana Jones. The audiobooks are around 3-4 hours each and it would make a fantastic family road trip series as it will appeal to a wide age-range. I just might try to get my family to give it a go even though my kids are a bit older.
Publisher Reading Guides
Plus! A short video with Andrew Clements where he talks a little about this series, along with another of his books, and he also alludes to how he relates to the kids he’s writing about and for (I think he might even go as far to say it relates to his feeling young at heart).
Ultimately, I can’t say enough good things about this 5-star series. 🤩 I only wish I had read it earlier so I could send a message to Andrew Clements to tell him how much I loved it. 🥹 I will now be enthusiastically recommending it to young readers; I’d love to see it find readership with a new generation of kids because I really think it’s deserving.
I’m so curious— has anyone out there already read Benjamin Pratt & the Keepers of the School? If not, I hope you pick it up soon. If you do, let me know what you think.