The Bad Beginning
Written by Lemony Snicket
Illustrated by Brett Helquist
Reviewed by student in Ms. A's 6th Grade Class
The Bad Beginning is about 3 children whose parents die in a fire. A man named Mr. Poe comes to tell them the bad news. Mr. Poe takes them to a house to find new parents for the 3 kids. Then he finds somebody named Count Olaf, and then Mr. Poe leaves them at Count Olaf's house.
Count Olaf treats the kids badly, so when they can't take it anymore they go to talk to Mr. Poe at the bank. The children tell him that they can't stand living with Count Olaf because he hit one of the boys, Klaus in the face. He also makes them do chores all the time, and he makes all 3 of them sleep in one bed.
The next morning the children were back at Count Olaf's house and he asked them why they went to Mr. Poe. When they didn't answer he asked them to be in his play. The play was a scam. He wanted to trick the kids into giving them the money they got from their parents. This book taught me not to trust strangers.
This book made me feel sorry for the kids. It made me wonder why I didn't choose a happy story, this one made me feel bad. I liked the author's writing style, it was easy to read. I think the book is okay. I liked it because it was sad. I liked Klaus because he was smart and not afraid to speak his mind. I recommend this book, as long as you don't mind sad stories.