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Summary: Fortunately, I Found This Unfortunate Book
Review: The Baudelaires may be unfortunate, but I was not so when I found this book.
Lemony Snicket, the author, tries to scare you away from reading the book, but don't listen!! This book is funny, smart, and a soon-to-be-classic, you have to read THE BAD BEGINNING.
Follow the hilarious and adventure-filled story of the Baudelaires, written by the very private Lemony Snicket.
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Summary: Unique book for kids and adults
Review: This is entertaining, well- written, and multi- leveled book was written by an author who recognizes children's right to read a book without being bombarded by morals and sappiness.
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Summary: this is a great book to start this series
Review: This is a great book filled with mouth dropping events. once you get to about page 100, you can't stop reading. I would not recomend this to kids who like happy stories.
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Summary: For children and adults, these books are wise and wonderful
Review: I don't think the intention of Mr. Snicket's books was ever to teach vocabulary words to children--rather, he pokes fun at old-fashioned, Victorian children's books which emphasized things like vocabulary and morals over the joy of words, and a tale well-told. But these books are not without morals just because they are not didactic and preachy--consider how Violet, Klaus, and Sunny love one another and stick together against all odds, and how loyal they are to their friends, the Quagmire triplets. Don't underestimate children, they can appreciate irony and they especially know good stories when they hear them. Literature is so much more than vocabulary! Isn't the joy of reading important, too?
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Summary: Actually...
Review: ...there is a moral to the books. Not a bright moral, like "be a good child!" or "eat wheaties!" but an overall theme to the books. Obviously, I would not heed the warnings of someone who's read only the first two books. Most people who are negatively critical of the books, for whatever reason, have not read past the 4th or 5th books, on average. I've heard some people complain the books are inappropriate for children, and I've heard people complain the books are too boring for children. All have come to a premature conclusion--and honestly, what would it hurt to read all the books before making a judgement? They are not at all lengthy. I would certainly recommend these books to people of all ages, unless you are impatient, far too judgemental, or have very exact limited expectations of them.
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Summary: I dislike it
Review: I did not like it. I say a haouse called awful end is better. This book did not have a moral i found it to be life sucks but what can you do? I dont reccomed this book to kids the only reason I read it is 'cuse my cursh was reading it you know how that works. I treied to use it for him to like me but after the first two books I felt like trowing them out the window.
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Summary: Tragic, intolerable, and miserable fun
Review: The poor, poor Baudelaire orphans. Life throws them down a flight of stairs at every step. Somehow, however, they overcome their ill fate (at least until the next volume) through wit and strategy. They must, as the adults in their lives are either clueless or evil, period. For this reason, the children-and hence, the readers-have no time to dwell on the unfortunate events. Though their world is set on the All-Tragedy-All-The-Time Channel, you find that you enjoy brainstorming a solution rather than only empathizing. The circumstances are so gleefully unbelievable that you never once walk away with a tear in your eye or a lump in your throat. This is hilarious quasi-goth wordplay, villains with more than a touch of Disney camp, and three kid protagonists you can relate to/want to be like/want around in the event of a nuclear holocaust. The ages 9-14 set will swap this out with their parents and older siblings. I haven't made babies yet, but this is the first book I'm saving to read to my kids when they are old enough to enjoy a story without pictures. I got overeager and tried to read it aloud to my husband whilst he watched the History Channel. He was annoyed, confused, and frightened.
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Summary: Enjoyed by me and my children
Review: I'm having a great time reading this series aloud to my children, and they are enjoying it immensely. The style, the pacing, the cliff-hanger chapter endings...all contribute to the fun we're having. When the action gets intense, I shut the book and ask questions. What should Violet do next? What would you do? We even talk about the law, and how people should have a will drawn up. We talk about how brave the children are. But we also talk about how today they could call 911, and how they should not feel helpless. The aside definitions sometimes spur discussion, with my 8 year old saying that he knows what that particular word means. But often he doesn't know the word. Anyway, the series is working for me and mine, and it's great to read out loud.
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Summary: Wow, what a bad book!
Review: This is proboably the worst book I've ever read. It seems that most of it was written by an eight year old, or even younger then that. Sometimes it seems like it's some sort of kids TV show. The writing is highly unprofessional, especially when the author keeps saying things simular to, " The rest of this story is so very sad. Do not read past this page." Also, the clulessness of the kids' older friend (forgot his name) drives you crazy!
And as for the ending, wow. It's like an ending to any old cartoon, tricky, but not any good. This whole book can be made into a 30 minute cartoon.
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Summary: At last - a cure for diabetes!
Review: "Lemony Snickett" has penned that rarity, a children's book that is engaging, interesting, and fun to read for both parent and child, without resorting to saccharine and sentiment. The word that best describes the misfortunes of the Baudelaires is "relentless." The nonstop series of tragedies, disasters, and betrayals would scar a delicate child, if it weren't for the author's deft regular intrusion into the narrative. He warns the reader of impending disaster and offers the opportunity to quit reading and imagine that everything turned out well. These little asides let the child in on the joke, reminding him that this isn't real. It works perfectly. Some of the more delightful features of this book and its sequels:
1) The Moral of the Story: Everything WON'T turn out all right in the end, justice rarely prevails, and bad people take advantage of scruples to do bad things. Welcome to the real world, kiddies.
2) The Real Moral of the Story: You'll be okay, even if things don't turn out all right in the end. This point appears to have been lost on some parents. It's an important one for a child to learn: getting fired, jailed unjustly, or deprived of the "A" you are convinced you deserved on a term paper are only events in your life; they aren't your life. What a way to get across to the kids "This Too Shall Pass."
3) Lemony Snickett: The author has cleverly inserted a story within the story, dropping hints of his own dark past, frequent references to his lost love Beatrice, and (in later books) alluding to personal relationships with some of the characters. All of this not only lends verisimilitude to the story for the younger readers, but adds interest for the older.
4) General cleverness: The names and settings in this and later books are remarkably witty. There are now web sites dedicated to explaining some of the more obscure references, but no adult reader can fail to smile as soon as the names Sunny and Klaus are introduced. Almost every name is worth looking up, and references to Edgar Allen Poe and his works abound. Sunny's baby babble is inventive. The author pauses to define difficult words, and his definitions will sometimes open adult eyes.
5) It is fun to read aloud: the over-the-top bad guys and helpless good guys make this an ideal book for individualized voices. Beware: when a character pops up in Book Six that you haven't seen since Book Two, you'd better remember what his voice sounded like - because your child will. Trust me.
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