The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket (1999)

Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

After already having seen the movie, I decided to invest in reading the books. Bk #1, THE BAD BEGINNING, only took me an hour to finish, and it was an enjoyable--if dark--read.

The Baudelaire children--Violet, Klaus, and Sunny--are left orphaned after a mysterious fire destroys their home and kills their parents. Taken into custody by Mr. Poe, the executor of their parent's estate, they learn that their parent's will states that they must be cared for by a relative. The closest relative, unbeknownest to the children, is Count Olaf, an actor and leader of a theatre troupe who lives in a dilapitated house on the other side of town.

Things, of course, only go from bad to worse after the children move into Count Olaf's home, which is strangely covered inside and out with drawings and representations of a strange-looking eye. Count Olaf even has a tattoo of the same image on his ankle. As the Count hatches a scheme to gain control of the Baudelaire fortune, which the children are not privy to until Violet comes of age, the children are alternately scared of their new "parent" and determined to find a way out of their dreadful situation.

I enjoyed this walk on the dark side, and plan on reading Book #2 in the series later today. That said, however, I think it depends on your child and his or her maturity as to whether this would be a good read for them or not. Although the reading material is suitable for around 8 years old and up, the book IS dark-natured, and might scare some children. If they've already seen the movie, they might be prepared for its darkness--if the movie depiction scared them, then hold off on the book for awhile.

I have never read this series before, so, logically, I began with the first book, "The Bad Beginning." What a great book! It is a quick, easy read, and is seasoned with miserable circumstance that helps you to fall in love with the characters even more.

The author also incorporates a very important tool: when he uses a word that a young reader might not understand, he explains it for the reader. For example, on page 68, one such passage reads: It is very useful when one is young to learn the difference between "literally" and "figuratively." If something happens literally, it actually happens; if something happens figuratively, it feels like it's happening. If you are literally jumping for joy, for instance, it means you are leaping in the air because you are very happy. If you are figuratively jumping for joy, it means you are so happy that you could jump for joy, but you are saving your energy for other matters.

These occasional explanations are easily understood and do not detract from the flow of the story as one might think. Just based on this book, I highly recommend this series to all families. If children are not ready to handle Harry Potter on their own, then "A Series of Unfortunate Events" will likely be their stepping stone into more complex novels. Enjoy!

After seeing the film based on the first 3 of the Series of Unfortunate Events, i thought it might be interesting to compare the movie and the books. Personally, i love children's books, and the Series, from what i can tell from the first 2, is definitely worthwhile reading.

I received the first book for Christmas from my son. After reading it I was hooked on the series and had the have more! Went to eBay and there they were - books 1 - 10 in mint condition. Love it! Love it! Love it!

My granddaughter likes these books and asked Santa to get her one for Christmas. These are fun books full of adventures for children. I recommend them for children who like to read and enjoy good stories.

My 9 yr old grandson is a voracious reader and he was absolutely delighted to find the first 4 books of the series as a Christmas gift from 'granny.' (When I was at a local bookstore looking for a series to buy for him, I requested a suggestion from a young man who was browsing the books. He told me he was 9 yrs old and just loved this series. What better recommendation could I have found?!?!?!? )

i read your reviews

u sound like a trustworthy seller :)(:
i wuold like to have you as one of my favorite sellers

This book was definitely worth adding to my collection. It's not as exciting as some the following chapters, but still good

I absolutely loved the item. It was beyond my expectations. I would purchase from this seller again.

Most books are sugar coated, and non real. This book goes the other way, and perhaps makes our kids think about how lucky they are and how their lives are actually pretty good. Lots of kids think that their lives are not so good, and they are onloy comparing to friends that seem to have more things. this book opens some eyes and hopefully makes kids realize that things can be worse.

This books was very entertaining to read. I haven't read a book with this type of style and origional story line in any other books. I highly recommend this book for all ages to read. Its a very good story and highly origional.