What would you do if you were invisible?

Another page-turner from the author of the Mysterious Benedict Society

Jennifer Minicus | Jun 27 2017 | comment

The Secret Keepersby Trenton Lee Stewart
written for ages 11-14 | highly recommended
published in 2016 | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers | 512 pages

Reuben likes adventures. While his mother is at work, he spends his summer exploring New Umbra, although he really is supposed to stay home. Reuben has learned how to avoid notice and can hide from everyone, even the law enforcing “Directions”.

Adventurers are daring. Reuben dares to climb buildings and other high places. When he finds a magical watch hidden in a wall crevice well above street level, he thinks he has found the answer to a prayer. He and his widowed mother are very poor. If he could sell this watch, it might change their lives. He does not realize that the “Directions” and their mysterious, evil boss the “Smoke” are looking for that very watch. A kindly watchmaker and two fearless friends team-up with Reuben as he races against time to solve the mysteries behind the watch and the power that controls New Umbra.

Trenton Lee Stewart, author of The Mysterious Benedict Society, has once again written a page-turning novel that pre-teens will love. Suspense, intrigue and winsome characters keep the reader engaged. Because he never glosses over pertinent details Stewart manages to make fantasy believable. Avid readers looking for a treat this summer will not be disappointed.

Jennifer Minicus is a teacher currently living in Ridgewood, NJ.

June 28, 2017

We make a big thing of marriage and parenthood on MercatorNet, and rightly so: the family is at the heart of society and of our mission and it needs to be vigorously defended today. But not every adult will be married or should be married. Singlehood is a valid and important way of life that complements marriage in building up society and can be lived generously and joyfully, either while preparing/hoping for marriage or as a permanent state.

Last week we ran an article about a German study that showed single people are much more likely to be lonely than those married, and to suffer ill health. That was particularly true of those who lived alone, which of course is not the necessary consequence of being single. Anyway today we hear from two women living the single life in different ways. Cristina Montes, a law professor in the Philippines, speaks up for the single state in general. Chiara Bertoglio, an Italian musician and contributor to MercatorNet, shares something of her own life and its many opportunities for self-giving even as she remains open to the prospect of marriage. I thank them both for speaking so well about a state that I share with them.