The Bad Beginning

Title: A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning
Author: Lemony Snicket
Published: Sept. 1999
ISBN: 9780439206471
Genre: fiction, mystery
Other books in the series: This is a 13 book series
Characters: Violet, Klaus, Sunny, Count Olaf
Reading Level: 6th grade
Interest Level: 4th-7th grade
Summary: The Beaudelaire children; Violet, Klaus and Sunny, lost their parents in a deadly fire. With no close family the orphaned children are sent to live with a distant cousin, Count Olaf. Count Olaf is obsessed with getting his hands on the Beaudelaire children's fortune. Unfortunately for him the fortune is protected until Violet turns 18. Upon this discovery Olaf stops treating the children with care and instead mistreats them. Olaf only seems to care about his acting troupe and forces the children to complete a list of chores like make a fancy dinner for his acting friends. The children try to get help but no one seems to care. It also seems that Olaf is hiding in a secret and it plotting to get the children's protected fortune.
Review: The story has a dark sense of humour that isn't often found in children's books. The children are extremely smart and crafty, even baby sunny. There is a lot of great vocabulary in the book that will challenge a young reader but the vocabulary doesn't bog down the story. There is also a lot of mystery in the story with various clues hinting to a much larger mystery. The story is the first in a long series that continues it's dark, mysterious and witty theme. While some may argue that it's too dark for children I think that children will enjoy the dark humor. The author tries to continue this air of mystery by writing under a pseudonym. He also warns readers to put down the book and stop reading if they don't want to read a sad, dark story. I think this warning will actually entice readers to read on, to find out why the book is dark. Overall it's a wonderful and unique series.
Reader's Annotation: The Beaudelaire Orphans are forced to live with Count Olaf who will stop at nothing to get their fortune.
Main Themes: family, secret societies, orphans
Read Alikes: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood
Why for Tweens? This dark mystery appeals to tweens because of it's mysterious plot line and humor. Two of the main characters are also tweens who are not only very smart but crafty as well.