Gift Guide: Gift Ideas for People Who Love The Mysterious Benedict Society

We think there's no better holiday gift than a good book. But sometimes you want to kick it up a notch, so we've put together a few fun gift lists based around some of our favorite books and authors.

Reynie, Kate, Sticky, and Constance quickly won a place in our hearts when they formed the Mysterious Benedict Society to help Nicholas Benedict save the world. Each smart in a different way, the fab four have combined their individual strengths to tackle brainwashing, kidnapping, and everything in between with impressive aplomb and puzzle-solving skills. If you’ve got a would-be member of the Society, these gifts might be a fun addition to your holiday list.

Obviously every member of the Mysterious Benedict Society has been saved at least once by Kate’s red bucket, so every Mysterious Benedict Society fan should have a red bucket of her own. For bonus points, fill yours with extra-strong magnets, a handy penlight, and a spool of fishing line.

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This boxed set includes all three books in the Mysterious Benedict Society series, plus the series prequel The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict and the companion puzzle book The Mysterious Benedict Society: Mr. Benedict’s Book of Perplexing Puzzles, Elusive Enigmas, and Curious Conundrums. It's pretty much a must-have for any Benedict Society fan. (And if you haven't already read it, Trenton Lee Stewart’s new book The Secret Keepers is not about the Benedict gang, but it is a puzzle-filled, fun mystery.)

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Put all your puzzle-solving skills to work with a BePuzzled mystery jigsaw puzzle. In this one, you must complete the puzzle in order to find the clues that will help you discover who committed a dinner party poisoning, but I’m also tempted by the Sherlock Holmes option.

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 Channel your inner Constance in a sturdy red raincoat. You may get damp while you’re saving the world, but you won’t get drenched. (The matching boots are pretty adorable, too.)

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Every grouchy preschool poet needs her own rhyming dictionary. Who knows? You might be mailing out a stack of snarky thank-you poems instead of the traditional boring thank-you notes.

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 This groovy little kaleidoscope doesn’t double as a spyglass, but it’s still a nifty gift for your favorite Kate Wetherall fan.

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 Every good Mysterious Benedict Society member knows that you don’t leave home without a pencil. This one doubles as a hand-held decoder. 

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You can put your pencil to work solving the increasingly challenging puzzles in What Is the Name of this Book?, an addictive collection of conundrums. Similarly, Lateral Thinking Puzzlers is a fun choice for logicians who want to practice solving puzzles that require them to think outside the box.

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 The adventure begins for the Society because each of them reads the newspaper every day. Young fans might enjoy their own subscription to your local newspaper or a classic publication like The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal.

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 You never know when a sling shot might come in handy. Stock this one with a set of colorful marbles, and you’ll be ready for any unexpected adventures. (This can be a dangerous gift, so it may not be the best choice for kids who are still working on impulse control!)

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It’s not quite as cool as figuring out the way through the maze under Mr. Benedict’s house, but the Gravity Maze game lets you practice your problem-solving skills in a fun, hands-on way.

(We’re Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something through an Amazon link, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Obviously this doesn’t influence what we recommend, and we link to places other than Amazon.)

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