Rating: 
Summary: Very Entertaining Series!
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: The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket
Review: I have 4 of the Series of Unfortunate Events books on audiotapes. I am an art teacher and I play the tapes for my students as they work. They LOVE these books and so do I! I really can't decided which narrator I like best - Tim Curry or Mr. Snicket himself. They are both wonderful!
Rating: 
Summary: The Reptile Room
Review: I read the book The Reptile Room, and I loved it so much! This is book is so funny and it's really good! In this book the Baudelaire orphans go from different homes, like a foster family. They always run into troubles and the book is about how they try to use their imaginations to get out of trouble. In this book the three kids move in with their uncle, who works with reptiles. They have a wonderful time with him. Then something bad happens and they are forced to leave. They get stuck in a very sticky situation and must try to use their brains and get help! Their friend that works at the bank that takes care of them, doesn't believe they are in serious trouble so they also have to convince him to help. It turns out to be a mess! These books start bad and end bad, so if you are looking for a book with a good ending, this might not be the book for you. I normally don't like sad books or books that end badly, but when you read these you just have a feeling something better will happen and you have to keep reading! The Reptile Room has some unfortunate events in it, but it is overall a great book! I am so glad I decided to read the Series of Unfortunate Events books and Lemony Snicket. The Reptile Room is number two in the series so you might want to start out and read The Bad Beginning. Please read this book it is so wonderful and parts of it are very funny! Lemony Snicket is a great writer and he is very creative. I hope he writes a lot more books, because they are so interesting. They are also really entertaining and it is one of those books that you can imagine just like a movie. Once you start this book you won't put it down. Please try these books!
Rating:
Summary: Good Follow Up to Book One
Review: Here we are again with the three Baudelaire orphans, Violet, Klaus and Sunny. In the first book their parents died in a fire and things went drastically downhill after that. Eventually ending with evil Count Olaf, a distant cousin, the trio tried to convince Mr. Poe, somewhat of a guardian, that Count Olaf was evil. At the end of the book Count Olaf ran away after his various machinations were unmasked. However, the ending was not happy because once again the orphans did not have a home. In this second book, we meet Dr. Montgomery Montgomery, or Uncle Monty, as he likes being called. At first the reader might believe that Uncle Monty's house is a bad place, for it is filled with snakes, including those of a poisonous variety. However, the children quickly realize that Uncle Monty is actually a very nice guy, and keeps a very clean and organized house. Soon the children actually begin to lead a normal life. As our erstwhile author periodically enjoys pointing out, life is not to be happy for the Baudelaire orphans, and Count Olaf appears once again, though disguised. It takes very little time for Uncle Montgomery to be killed; and once again the orphans risk being in a very bad situation. Eventually, through the cleverness of the orphans, you must know that Count Olaf will somehow be unmasked, and the children saved, though to what end? This book was not quite as dark as the first book, and the implied sexual situations relating to Violet did not appear to exist in this book, for which I was very happy. However, death reappears in this book, and Count Olaf remains the evil person he was in the first. Thus this book is likely unsuitable for most younger readers and age 9 should likely be a reasonable minimum. A parent may also need to be prepared for questions regarding death and evil people, and perhaps even questions regarding snakes. This book continues the strong educational message of the first book, both explicitly and implicitly. Because more difficult words are explained in detail, this book is, like the first, a good transitional book for readers in the 9 to 12 age range. While the images are dark in this book, they are not as dark as in the first. I recommend this book, but, but be very sure you know your child and what is in this book before you allow your child to read it. Four stars for a good follow up to the interesting approach started in book one for this age range.
Rating: 
Summary: Can't say I wasn't warned!
Review: How many times have I sat and watched a bad movie thinking that it would get better? Does it ever? Of course not, and neither did this second book in the Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room. Here is another depressing story of the three Baudelaire orphans. If Lemony Snickett (the author) would take out all of the definitions, this tiny book would only have a few pages. Again, there is no character development. We really know nothing more about these children. Oh, and this time there is a murder and an attempted kidnapping. I know I am missing the boat on this series because kids seem to love these books. As a school counselor, I tell kids to read anything that interests them, even if it is a comic book. So, if children love these books, continue reading them! But in my humble opinion, these books are no comparison to the good ol' Nancy Drew, Trixie Beldon and Hardy Boys of my youth!
Rating:
Summary: More of the same but still fun
Review: In the second book of the series, the Baudelaire children find themselves in the care of another distant relative. Their luck seems to improve because their new guardian, Montgomery Montgomery, is quite fond of the kids and even lets them help him with his snakes. Things take a turn for the worse when Count Olaf shows up in the guise of Uncle Monty's assistant and he only has one goal in mind, to get his paws on the Baudelaire fortune... at any cost. This book doesn't really have anything new to add to the series and the plot of the first one was much more interesting. However, Lemony Snicket's brilliant way with words kept me laughing and Mr. Poe's idiocy kept me frustrated through out the book. Even though this book doesn't have much to it, it's still an enjoyable read and I look forward to reading the next in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Just read this book & you'll thank me!
Review: This was the best book i ever read { definitly my top 10}.
Just read this book it's the best book.
uNCLE mONTY IS SUPER NICE! BUT SOMETHING UNFORTUNATE HAPPENS... RREAD IT!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Very Funny
Review: This is a really good, really funny book. It does not awnsers as many questons as the nineth but is a very good taste of the sadness, interstingness, questons, and funnyness of the later books.
Rating:
Summary: I don't desire to be disingenuous
Review: which is why I won't tell you I was happy with the purchase of this book. 'Disingenuous' means 'not candid or frank'. You see, I purchased this book looking for a bright, cheery story where the sun shines across a green field of lush grass as the protagonists enjoy a lovely picnic after they win a deliciously just victory over the villain, who is just barely bad enough that you can't possibly like him, but if he were a little nicer, you might.
Such is not the case with second book to this dreadful series of books. Not only does, Sunny, the infant get attacked by a snake named 'The Incredibly Deadly Viper', their kind uncle Monty, (who studies snakes, but cannot see when one is in disguise), is foolish enough to be fooled by the villian, Count Olaf, who really isn't very likable under any circumstance. Worse yet, uncle Monty soon finds himself indisposed, and Count Olaf is to take the Baudelaire orphans to a distant jungle, perhaps to dispose of them and their inheritance in one, awful blow! Certainly, I wouldn't put it past Olaf to kill 4 birds with one stone if he ever finds it possible.
If you enjoy reading stories where no-one is very happy in the end and the villain gets away, this is probably the book for you. Fun for adults as well!
Rating:
Summary: The Baudelaire kids enjoy a brief moment of happiness
Review: "The Reptile Room" is Book the Second in A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snickert. It professes--the word "professes" here means "claims to be"--to be the story of the three unlucky Baudelaire children, but I suspect that, with all due respect, Lemony Snickert is really engaging in vocabulary building skills for his young readers. Now, this has no effect on me because I already know what "ridicule," "preempt," "crude," and "retrieve" mean and do not need to have them defined for me. However, I suspect that for many young readers this book may well be, and I hestiate to use the word, educational. Unlike the first volume in the series, which began with the Baudelaire children Violet, Klaus, and Sunny being orphaned by the death of their parents and being placed in the clutches of the wicked, bad, mean and nasty Count Olaf, "The Reptile Room" provides a brief window of opportunity for readers to have high hopes for their future. Mr. Poe has entrusted their care to Dr. Montgomery Montgomery, who is not only their late father's cousin's wife's brother but also a herpetologist of some repute (and the discoverer of the impressively misnamed Incredibly Deadly Viper). Dr. Montgomery gives the children the run of his home in general and the Reptile Room in particular, and plans to take them along on his expedition to Peru. The children are happy and gay, but such feelings do not last long in this series and before the end of the tale there is a deadly snake, a murder, a car accident, and the return of the worst of all possible persons. Fortunately, Violent Baudelaire is especially good at inventing things, her brother Klaus likes to read, and Sunny may be inarticulate but is still a clever little baby. These characteristics go a long way towards explaining why there are additional volumes in A Series of Unfortunate Events instead of it ending in complete disaster earlier along the way. Even if it requires children to learn new words and to think of creative ways of solving problems, I would still maintain reading the works of Lemony Snickert to be a good thing. The story of misery and woe continues in "The Wide Window," which apparently will involve Curdled Cave, a small bag of shattered glass, the menu from the Anxious Clown restaurant, and a test tube containing one (1) Lachrymose Leech. However, younger readers should feel free to read something diverting and possibly even happy before proceeding to the next series of tragic events regarding the Baudelaire children.
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