How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"I do not simply need a team; I need a team of children." (4.88)
Ultimately, of course, Mr. B has a team of children and adults, but he knows he can't infiltrate the Institute without the kids—and not just because he needs them to pose as students. It's more than that. He needs their unique perspectives, their un-jaded minds, and their individual talents, not the least of which is Constance's stubbornness. If you have a younger brother or sister (or if you've ever babysat for a young child), it may never have occurred to you that a toddler's stubbornness could be an asset. What do you think now?
Quote #2
"[…] if you were to tell, no one would believe you, for you are only a child." (5.3)
Have you ever had experience with this—trying to tell someone something and having them dismiss you because you're a kid? Clearly, all of the MBSers have, and it's a strange dynamic when you think about it. We want people to be respectful of others, but a lot of the time adults are disrespectful of kids (even though many of them think it's imperative that kids respect their elders). So… where are the kids supposed to learn that respect if it's never shown to them?
Quote #3
"But why does the Sender use children to send [the messages]?" Reynie asked.
"A devilish trick," said Mr. Benedict, "and a necessary one. You see, only a child's thoughts can be slipped into the mind so secretly. For some reason, they go unnoticed."
"No surprise there," Constance humphed. "I've never met a grown-up who believed me capable of thought." (5.135-137)
Ouch. So it's easy to slip children's thoughts into someone's mind because no one gives children's thoughts much… thought. But Mr. B does, and so does Number Two… and Rhonda, and Milligan. Which makes us wonder: have they been more or less immune to Mr. Curtain's messages solely because they don't watch a lot of TV and stuff like that, or are they at least partially immune because they listen to children's ideas and as such more likely to notice the messages?
Quote #4
Reynie […] gazed across the harbor channel toward the mainland, as if by gazing he might somehow get back there, and not just to the land, but to a time when he didn't know all the things he knew now. (19.59)
Oh yeah, back on the mainland Reynie was still just an innocent. He hadn't really seen evil, per se, and he's aware that in some ways those were the good old days. When he crossed the bridge to the Institute, he left a little bit of youth on the other side.
Quote #5
The mood in their meeting that night was subdued: no bickering, no laughter, only a general feeling of grim resolve. Now that the children finally knew some things, they all rather missed not knowing them. (20.1)
Hmm… so maybe there is a little bit of worry about lost youth in this book. After all, what the kids have experienced on Nomansan Island is an initiation experience—an event that has opened their eyes to the true nature of the world—and when you suddenly come face to face with the reality that not all people are kind, trustworthy, or even good, it can make you miss the days when you weren't quite as aware.
Quote #6
[…] all they had was their word, and the word of children, they knew, amounted to nothing. (20.2)
Shmoop remembers being young, back when all the other online learning and education sites refused to take it seriously. Actually, Shmoop doesn't remember any such thing, and really, Shmoop is eternally youthful. Still—we can relate, and we feel for the MBSers. Right here. Where it counts.
Quote #7
"Two students?" Mr. Curtain was saying. "By students you mean children, do you not?"
"Um, yes, sir," cam S.Q.'s uncertain reply.
"Do you mean to tell me you can't prevent two children from breaking in?" (36.9-11)
We have to wonder: If Mr. C had taken the threat of two students trying to break in seriously, if he hadn't dismissed Kate and Constance as inconsequential because they're kids, might things have turned out differently?
Quote #8
It was a tense moment. And a curious one, too—for every person in the car, adult and child alike, realized just then that they trusted this eleven-year-old boy quite without reservation. If Reynie Muldoon asked them to do something, if he promised them something, they would do what he asked and believe every word. (38.28)
Unlike Mr. Curtain, who dismisses students because they're, well, students, Number Two, Rhonda, and Milligan all trust Reynie's instincts because he's Reynie, student or not.
Quote #9
These days a steady stream of agents and officers flowed through Mr. Benedict's doors. […] They wanted to catch Mr. Curtain, though for this Mr. Benedict held out little hope. Mr. Curtain, he said, was too smart to be outfoxed by adults. Only children could have accomplished it. (39.3)
What do you think? Does this comment pass the straight-face test? Is Mr. B right? Or could a group of adults—the right adults—have foiled Mr. Curtain's evil scheme? Sure it would be a vastly different story, but it's a possibility… isn't it? Think about it, and let us know how it could have gone down, if, in fact, it could have.
Quote #10
"Just a few minutes more, Number Two. Let them play. They are children, after all." (39.87)
Yes they've seen evil up close and in person, and they've worked undercover in a dangerous situation—they even risked having their memories swept away in order to essentially save the world from a cruel fate—but in the end it's nice to see that they're still kids at heart. Kids with a little more knowledge of the world, but kids nonetheless.