Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Language: Only one reference to “Profanity Production” in the Curseworks Factory. “In spite of the heavy walls, Ben blushes when he hears the foul curses that were emanating from the room.”

Violence: Ms. Pinch raises her hand to Ben as if to strike him and stops at the last minute. In one of the footnotes a factory worker flies a chair after too much drinking at the pub. He ascends three thousand feet and his body is never recovered. Simon Spinchley is turned into a spider. There is a scaly, dragonlike monster the Curseworks Factory has built. During the battle sequence, hideous creatures screech curses, which emit a horrible green acid that burns. The fanged jaws of a creature crack the windshield. Many of the flying chairs crash during battle, and death is imminent. The Jinns swing giant scimitars like sickles through the Spider Monkeys. Ben is shot by a magical curse-covered arrow. He is immediately in agonizing pain as the liquid fire courses through his veins.

Adult Themes: Ben’s parents die in a plane crash. He recalls how great his life had been before he became an orphan. He recalls being told about their deaths. Ben misses his parents terribly. He finds himself in an orphanage under the watch and care of cruel adults. Later in the story, Mr. Thornblood, the President of the Curseworks Factory, who has a history of being very manipulative, slyly tries to persuade Ben to give his wish to him.

Synopsis

Benjamin Bartholomew Piff is an orphan. Ben he has been living for the past year at “Pinch’s Home for Wayward Boys”, a dilapidated orphanage managed by the cruel spinster, Ms. Eliza Pinch and “The Disciplinarian”, and cook, Mr. Roach. Ben plots his escape and is foiled. Ben then receives a cake from his kind case worker, to celebrate his 11th birthday. Ms. Pinch snatches the cake from Ben and Mr. Roach locks the cake in the refrigerator. Later that night, after Ben has spent hours scrubbing pots with a toothbrush, he unlocks the cake from the refrigerator, lights the candles and makes a birthday wish….and follows the rules for Birthday Wishing:

1. The wish must be made with the eyes closed.

2. Every candle on the birthday cake must be blown out in one breath.

3. The wish must never, ever be spoken aloud.

Ben wishes for the most dangerous wish of all…unlimited wishes. He is thrilled with his clever wish, until he learns he has completely disrupted the fragile balance in the magical realm of wishes and curses. Ben is then recruited by the Wishworks Factory President, Candlewick, to be trained for battle against the Curseworks Factory and their evil army of henchmen. The battle ensues as Wishworks fights to regain power.

The old adage, “Be careful what you wish for…. ” is brought to life in “The Misadventures of Benjamin Bartholomew Piff You Wish”. This story will interest 4th – 6th grade readers as they read on their own.  Please don’t forget to read the hilarious footnotes! The book’s gem, “Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge”.

©2009 The Literate Mother