Rating: 
Summary: Finally a writer who tells the awful truth
Review: This series of books is hilarious and the audience that it was written for will love it, that is, intelligent children and adults. The ones that it lampoons, understandably, will hate it, which is another reason to love it. If Edgar Allan Poe and Gahan Wilson had a baby, it would have been Lemony Snicket...
Rating: 
Summary: Hardly Stimulating...
Review: Let me begin by saying that I read a great deal. I read books (like this one) meant for kids, novels (of various types) meant for adults, and, of course, classics like War and Peace. This book is not impressive in any way, at least it isn't in my opinion. I read the first 3 books before giving up in disgust. In this book, all the adults are made out to be complete and total idiots. None of them even LISTEN to the kids when they say that their new guardian (Uncle Olaf) is being rather abusive. What kind of adult doesn't at least LISTEN to a 14 year old girl and her 12 year old brother when they complain of abuse? It is completely unbelievable. Evil Uncle Olaf is a buffoon as well, though they think he is clever. After partially carrying out his evil plan, he goes and ANNOUNCES it to everyone before he can make sure it will work. No one is that stupid. Not only that, but the kids refuse to stick up for themselves. Even though the "nice" adults don't help them at all they continue to let adults try and help them. This ends up making the situation worse, leaving the kids to figure out some way to avoid whatever is happening. This so-called solution that they come up with would never work if the adults had any brains whatsoever, making the story rather dull. Overall, I would say that I don't recommend these books to anyone, with the possible exception of reading them aloud to 6 year olds. If you desire to read a book, or a series of books, aimed at younger kids but still interesting enough for all ages, or if you are a young person and want something to read, I would first recommend Harry Potter. However, you have probably already read that, so as a secondary choice I would recommend the Artemis Fowl series.
Rating: 
Summary: More disappointing than I could have imagined
Review: My husband and I are always on a quest for series of books to read together (we have read and thoroughly enjoyed Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, Philip Pullman's Dark materials, and Taran Wanderer series). We were informed the Lemony Snicket Unfortunate Events series would be a good one to try out, if not for oursleves, then for children we knew. We picked the first in the series up while on a car trip to test it out. I can not express how disappointed we were. Not only were the "vocabulary lessons" annoying, they are completely unneccessary - children learn new words through proper use and context, and if it can not be figured out through these ways, then the extra effort to go look it up in a dictionary is a good learning method as well. Besides that, the words he chooses to define versus the undefined ones is absolutely absurd! And any child who needs the word "rickety" or "perished" defined is too young to be reading about such subjects as child abuse and implied sexuality (the uncle and theater members' thoughts of Violet), or to be exposed to such violence as shown by Count Olaf (threatening to cut Violet's face). In conclusion, since the book's context is too mature for the youngest of readers, and the vocabulary lessons as well as the simplicity of the plot make it inappropriate for older readers, I can not recommend it for anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Try It For Yourself
Review: When I first heard about the Unfortunate Events books, my first reaction was negative. I assumed the books were depressing, painful tales that would likely give kids nightmares and send them screaming to therapists. So I read one...and I was wrong. 'The Bad Beginning' chronicles the misadventures of three very...well, unfortunate...orphans: fourteen year old Violet (who longs to invent things), twelve year old Klaus (who longs to read books), and the infant girl Sunny (who longs to bite things...and people). As author Lemony Snicket warns on the book's back cover, this is "an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children." That it certainly is, but it is also much more. The book can be viewed as a dark comedy for children, a fairy tale gone wrong, or Charles Dickens meets Harry Potter. Snicket moves the story forward with a fast-paced plot and many vocabulary lessons inserted throughout the story in very clever ways. Many people may be critical of the Unfortunate Events books, citing that there are no happy endings. But life doesn't always turn out nice and neat like it did in the Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and Little House on the Prairie books. There's nothing wrong with those books, but maybe they're not your thing. If that's the case, maybe the Unfortunate Events books will be more to your liking.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Beginning to a Great Series
Review: Being only 13, it is very difficult to find a book for my age nowadays that I can learn from or that is entertaining in the slightest. With A Series of Unfortunate Events, though, I found myself turning each page with wonderful anticipation each and every time. I honestly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the Harry Potter series. Before reading this book, I feared that it would be a disgraceful copy of the Harry Potter series but to my surprise, it was actually a very diverse and eye-catching book that turned out to be one of my favorites. I have now read every single book in the Series of Unfortunate Events excepting book #9, The Carnivorous Carnival, and I do not regret any of the time spent reading them at all. I had a fantastic adventure diving into each and every story and spending the day with Violet, Klaus, Sunny, Count Olaf, and all of the other hilarious as well as fascinating and interesting characters that add so much to the humor as well as to the beautiful plot that keeps us all going. Lemony Snicket has such a way with words that can keep any child's eyes glued to the pages. Snicket's writings add to any reader's vocabulary in a whole new motivating and efficient way while at the same time keeping a smile on their faces. The way that he digresses into his own adventurous and rebellious life keeps us tantalized to his amazing stories. Although I am only one person, I can speak for many other readers of The Bad Beginning and the other stories in the Series of Unfortunate Events by saying that I am caught between the stories of the Baudelaires and of Lemony Snicket. There are times when Snicket starts to digress into his own life when I think, "Stop talking about yourself; get back to the mysterious and tempting plot of the Baudelaire children!" but then I find myself tied up in the middle of Snicket's life instead! There are so many examples of this in action that anyone can find just by reading these books and these examples are those that make the stories so wonderful and attractive. I recommend these books to anyone and I hope that if this review helps you and you decide to read The Bad Beginning or any of the other Series of Unfortunate Events books that you enjoy them as much as I did. Happy reading!
Rating:
Summary: Very Entertaining!
Review: I purchased books 1-5 on audio tape to listen to with my children while driving in the car. My how time flys when you are hearing about the perils of the Baudelaire children. I notice traffic doesn't bother me half as much while I am listening to these stories. Somethings in life could be much worse than sitting in bumper to bumper traffic. My children enjoy the stories so much that they don't just want to listen in the car anymore. Every night before they go to bed we listen to about an hour of the tape. Also, I think my children appreciate me more after they see what a hard life these children have. I would recommend these stories for older children (older then 7). Younger or overly sensitive children might get scared or become upset by some of the things that happen.
Rating:
Summary: Overall pretty good
Review: Overall this book was funny and worthy of reading, but at some points it was on the dull side.
Rating:
Summary: Sweet
Review: I think that the book I read A Series of Unfortunate Events #1 The Bad Begininng was a great book. I recommend this book to anyone young or old. I give this one 8 and a half out of 10. I am on #3 The Wide Window and it is good also. The book I read is #1 of a 9 book series. The plot of the story is about 3 young kids Klaus, Sunny, and the oldest Violet - the Baudelaire children. Their parents died in a awful fire. Then they have to live with their awfuly mean, uncool Count Olaf and who tries to get their family's fortune. I thought that this book was so good I am going to try to read all 9 and more. I also like how he tried to get the money. He made a fake play about a wading and put the kids in the play. Violet play the wife get married to Count Olf and if she marries him it is for real because of his plan (I do not want to spoil it). The end is great allso (not going to key you that also). That is what I thought about A Series of Unfortunate Events #1 The Bad Beginning.
Rating:
Summary: Lemony Snicket is very unique...
Review: I personally think Lemony Snicket is unique. He can kick up his courage and write stories without any happiness, while every author ends stories happily, as usual. I also like how he plots and writes the story, because you cannot predict the ending, like you would to other stories.
Rating:
Summary: A great Book rated by Emily Allen
Review: I thought this book was great. The theme makes you want to read more and more. I was introduced to this series from a fried and now I have read them all. This book is great for all ages. My grandma read this book. Lemony Snicket wrote this book with greatness. Sunny,violet and Klaus are having trouble when there parents die but the way they hang in there shows great courage. I loved this book, and i would recomend this to anyone!
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