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Hiding in Plain Sight

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On this episode of Arts & Letters, we talk with Trenton Lee Stewart, author of the bestselling The Mysterious Benedict Society series.

His newest book The Secret Keepers, published by Little,Brown Books for Young Readers, is a mystery involving time, directions, smoke, poetry and riddles and at its core is about hiding in plain sight. 

 

 

 

Today [Reuben Pedley] wanted to strike out into new territory, and there was no time to waste. Eleven years had passed since the factory accident that left Reuben without a father and his mother a young widow scrambling for work--eleven years, in other words, since his own promising star had begun to fall. Reuben made his habitual, rapid inventory of potential hiding places: a shady corner between a building's front steps and street-facing wall; a pile of broken furniture that someone had hauled to the curb; a window well with no protective railing...He preferred bona fide hiding places when he could find them, but there was nothing quite like hiding in plain sight....

 

Stewart explains that the character of Reuben is shy and has a talent for hiding. Over time, these two aspects of his personality have forged Reuben's way of being in the world. 

 

"Sometimes people saw you and then instantly forgot you, because you were just a random kid, doing nothing."

 

Arkansas native, Trenton Lee Stewart.

Reuben's hiding has led him to discover an antique watch filled with mystery, secrets, and magic. He sets off on a dangerous adventure to solve the mystery of the watch and to save his city before it's too late. . . 

Trenton Lee Stewart is the author of the novel Flood Summer and the award-winning, New York Times best-selling The Mysterious Benedict Society series. The Mysterious Benedict Society, winner of the E.B. White Read-Aloud Award and named by Time magazine as one of the 100 greatest young adult novels of all time, has been translated into several languages and optioned for television.

Stewart’s short fiction has appeared in literary magazines such as New England Review, The Georgia Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, and others, and has been cited as distinguished work in The Best American Short Stories. His most recent New York Times best-selling novel, The Secret Keepers, was chosen by the Amazon Book Review as the best children’s book of 2016, named one of the best middle grade novels of the year by Entertainment Weekly and is an American Library Association Notable Book for Children. Stewart lives in Little Rock, Arkansas.

For resources on using The Secret Keepers in the classroom, visit Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.   

This episode features music by composer, Silas Hite, and musicians Travis BowmanThe Damsels in Distress, and Amy Jo Savannah.  

Featured song, "Movement of Time" by Silas Hite:

movement_of_time.mp3
Listen to the song

Composer and Visual Artist, Silas Hite

Watch musician Travis Bowman in the A&L Studio playing the mysterious, harp guitar:

    

A special thanks to the talented actors who shared their voices with the production: Daniel Breen, Josh Enloe, Simon Hawkins, Michael Hibblen, Lucie Loukotkova, Paz Tiedeman, and Nathan Vandiver.  

Generous funding for this episode was provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and listeners like you. 

Hiding In Plain Sight Executive Producer & Host: J. Bradley Minnick Story Editor: Mary Ellen Kubit Producer: J. Bradley Minnick Recorded by: Christopher Hickey

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