A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning

By /

Author: Lemony Snicket
Illustrator: Brett Helquist

© Date: 1999
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 163
Chapters: Yes
Illustrations: Yes, most pages do not have an illustration
Publisher Recommended Age: 8-12 years
Bonus Activities at End of Book: Not really, there is a letter from Lemony Snicket to his editor with a description of some research that he is doing

Summary from Book:

Dear Reader,

I’m sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant. It tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children. Even though they are charming and clever, teh Baudelaire siblings lead lives filled with misery and woe. From the very first page of this book when the children are at the beach and receive terrible news, continuing on through the entire story, disaster lurks at their heels. ONe might say they are magnets for misfortune.

In this short book alone, the three youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, and cold porridge for breakfast.

It is my sad duty to write down these unpleasant tales, but there is nothing stopping you from putting this book down at once and reading something happy, if you prefer that sort of thing.

With all due respect,

Lemony Snicket

Note: This review is done from memory. I originally read this a short bit ago.

Page Pig Thoughts: Reading this book made me realize how much I appreciate a happy ending. This one does not hide the fact that it is a sad story with a sad ending, but I realized how accustomed I am to things working out. The narration style is unique, the story is well told and keeps you guessing, the children are resilient, and the book did give you a warning where you should stop if you wanted a happy ending. I suppose with a sad story of unfortunate events, it is fitting that I had a sad sort of response to it. This one just isn’t my style.

Family Unit: The Baudelaire children, Violet (14), Klaus (12), and Sunny (infant), had lived at home with their mother and father. In the first chapter, their parents die in their house when it burns down. They wind up with Count Olaf, a distant relative.

Conflict/Social Issues:

  1. The living conditions for the Baudelaire children are rather miserable. Count Olaf and his home are not inviting or kind.

Positive Items:

  1. The Baudelaire children are resourceful and clever. They stick together and find ways to keep moving forward, even when times get tough.

Items of Interest:

  1. The Baudelaire children were playing at the beach when Mr. Poe finds them and notifies them that their house burned to the ground and their parents died in the fire.
  2. Nothing remained from their house, nothing to comfort themselves or remind them of their parents.
  3. The children live with Mr. Poe (the executor of their parents’ estate) until he finds somewhere for them to go.
  4. The children wind up with super itchy, ugly clothing. They share a tiny, smelly room with Mr. Poe’s two boys and eat boiled food.
  5. The children go to live with their distant relative Count Olaf. His house is dark and dirty. They get a filthy bedroom to share that only has one small bed. Violet and Klaus take turns sleeping in the bed. They make a bed for Sunny with dusty curtains that were hanging over the window.
  6. Justice Strauss lives next door to Count Olaf in a lovely home with an amazing library. She is very kind to the children, but doesn’t realize what is actually going on with them next door.
  7. Count Olaf gives the children manual labor lists to get done everyday. One day they had to make a dinner for Count Olaf and his ten friends. They are all drunk and unhappy with the food that the children make for them. One of the friends has two hooks for hands.
  8. Count Olaf makes the children participate in a play with him and his friends.
  9. Count Olaf strikes Klaus over the face.
  10. Turns out Count Olaf’s play is a ploy to trick a judge into marrying him to Violet. He intends to kill off the other children so that he can get their family’s fortune.
  11. To carry out his plan, he puts Sunny in a cage and dangles her out a tower window. He then tells Violet that she has to participate in the play/wedding or Sunny will not find a good ending. The hook hand man and other friends of Count Olaf help carry out his plan.
  12. Violet does make a grappling hook to rescue Sunny. Her parents made her promise that she would always watch out for her younger siblings. The two hook man catches her in the act and all three children wind up locked in a room until the play.
  13. The children manage to outsmart Count Olaf so that the wedding is not valid.
  14. Count Olaf declares that he will continue to work to get the Baudelaire fortune.
  15. Count Olaf and his friends escape the police.
  16. The Baudelaire children do not get to live with Justice Strauss like they want, but have to go back with Mr. Poe while he finds a new relative for them to live with.

Other Books in Series (At Time of Posting):

  • The Reptile Room
  • The Wide Window
  • The Miserable Mill
  • The Austere Academy
  • The Ersatz Elevator
  • The Vile Village
  • The Hostile Hospital
  • The Carnivorous Carnival
  • The Slippery Slope
  • The Grim Grotto
  • The Penultimate Peril
  • The End
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