The Bad Beginning
Written by Lemony Snicket
Illustrated by Brett Helquist
Reviewed by Christy N. (age 8)
In this book there are three children named Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, who lost their parents and had to live with an evil guardian named Count Olaf. Violet is an inventor. Klaus is the animal examiner. Sunny is the biter. Their parents were killed by a fire that was started by Count Olaf. Count Olaf is a very, very greedy man. He tries to take the children's fortune.
This book is from a series of books called "A Series of Unfortunate Events". But, to make sense of what happens in each story, you have to read the books in the order they are written. The reason you have to do this is because the stories continue from one book to the next.
My book, THE BAD BEGINNING, has happy middle parts and sad parts in the beginning of the book and at the end of the story. But the book also has some funny parts. A funny part in the book is when Sunny, the youngest child, says, "Oh!". What she is really saying is that Count Olaf has a terrible place. This was funny to me because even though she was a baby, she still said what she thought about Count Olaf's place.
Sunny is my favorite character because she has a lot of courage. She doesn't cry even when she is afraid of Count Olaf. She also knows how to take care of herself even though she's only a baby. I think that's amazing!
I recommend this book because it's exciting to see how and if the children outsmart Count Olaf. Third through fifth graders would probably like to read this book. What might interest the reader is that the children are not your ordinary children and their lives are very, very unusual.