Benjamin Pratt & Keepers of the School Book 4
Andrew Clements
Adam Stower (Illustrator)
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
A Division of Simon and Schuster
ISBN 9781416938897
eISBN 9781442481459
ASIN B008J2G9XI
This was my twelfth book by Andrew Clements in under a year. I can freely admit that along with Chris d'Lacey are currently my favorite middle grade authors. I have been alternating between them and reading a book a week over the summer and into the fall. Between d'Lacey and Clements their styles are very different. For Andrew Clements for the most part his books are written in a very realistic style. But this series is the excepting to that rule. I have read the first four books in this series in just over a month and eagerly anticipate the wrap up in book 5 shortly.
These books follow directly one after the other, starting with Fear Itself, then We the Children, followed by The Whites of Their Eyes, and then this volume. Things have gotten desperate if the kids want to save Oakes School will be demolished in 11 days and the property turned into a theme park. But the good news is the team of Keepers is growing, we now have the three children, and they are following the clues to Captain Oakes safeguards to save the school. But the enemy is getting even nastier. Lyman the fake janitor has called in reinforcements, Wally has hidden cameras around the school and he and Lyman have taken to following the children even outside of school. The Glennley group has even offered to make Ben's mom rich by offering he an exclusive real estate contract, and they have threatened Jill's father's finances. But the team is growing closer together, and as mentioned it is growing. With the access to assets left for them they now have legal counsel, and are working all angles to save the school. But will it be enough? Do they have enough time to solve the clues get the help and save their school and maybe even their community?
The deeper themes that appeared in the last book are worked upon even more in this volume. The three friends growing closer together! Both Ben and Robert realize that their years of competitiveness were fed by misunderstandings. They really are gelling into a team and dealing with many of their personal life issues from the present and the past.
Adam Stower has does some more wonderful illustrations to supplement the story. There are a number of full pages illustrations and also numerous smaller pieces throughout the book. In the eBook edition all the pictures are done in black and green.
With each volume the action picks up, and the books grow more intense. It leaves you hungry to figure out what will happen next. And after finishing this book there is only one to go.
The greatest strengths of Clements writings in this series and others I have read are the characters and their personal development because of what they go through. The big difference in this series is we have three main characters, Ben, Robert and Jill. And each of them is growing and together they are helping each other in more ways than they originally expected.
I have been hooked on Clements books for a while now I am really enjoying this series and can highly recommend it. This is another great read by a gifted author!
Books by Andrew Clements:
Bird Adalbert
Noah and the Ark and the Animals
Santa's Secret Helper
Temple Cat
Mother Earth's Counting Book
Billy and the Bad Teacher
Who Owns the Cow
Bright Christmas: An Angel Remembers
Frindle
(Adapter)Philipp's Birthday Book
Riff's BeBop Book
Real Monsters Go for the Mold
Things That Go EEK on Halloween
Real Monsters Stage Fright
Music Time, Any Time
Double Trouble in Walla Walla
Workshop
Gromble's Haunted Halloween
Hey Dad, Could I Borrow Your Hammer
The Landry News
Look Who's in the Thanksgiving Play
The Mouse Family
The Janitor's Boy
Circus Family Dog
The Christmas Kitten
The School Story
Things Not Seen
The Jacket
A Week in the Woods
Slippers at Home
Naptime for Slippers
The Report Card
The Last Holiday Concert
Slippers at School
Slippers Loves to Run
A Million Is a Lot of Dots
Lunch Money
Things Hoped For
Room One: A Mystery or Two
No Talking
Things That Are
Lost and Found
Extra Credit
Troublemaker
About Average
The Map Trap
The Friendship War
The Losers Club
...
Pets to the Rescue Series
Ringo Saves the Day!
Brave Norman
Tara and Tiree, Fearless Friends
Delores and the Big Fire
Jake Drake Series
Jake Drake Know-It-All
Jake Drake, Bully Buster
Jake Drake, Teacher's Pet
Jake Drake, Class Clown
Benjamin Pratt and the Keepers of the School Series
We the Children
Fear Itself
The Whites of Their Eyes
In Harm's Way
We Hold These Truths
Reading program Books
Karen's Island
Three Wishes for Buster
Bill Picket: An American Original, Texas Style
Hurricane Andrew
Ham and Eggs for Jack
Life in the Desert
Desert Treasure
Inventors: Making Things Better, Steck-Vaughn
Milo's Great Invention
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