The Bad Beginning
What's This Book About
Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are intelligent children. They are charming, and resourceful, and have pleasant facial features. Unfortunately, they are exceptionally unlucky. In the first two books alone, the three youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, a lumpy bed, a deadly serpent, a large brass reading lamp, a long knife, and a terrible odor. In the tradition of great storytellers, from Dickens to Dahl, comes an exquisitely dark comedy that is both literary and irreverent, hilarious and deftly crafted. Never before has a tale of three likeable and unfortunate children been quite so enchanting, or quite so uproariously unhappy.
What Kind of Book is The Bad Beginning
Reviews
Who knew that a story about terrible things happening to children could be so utterly delightful? This book, and those that follow it in the series, are constructed in an absolutely charming, oh-so-clever way. And don't let the titles fool you: they are chock-full of silliness.
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The Creatives Behind the Book
Lemony Snicket is the author of the thirteen volumes in A Series of Unfortunate Events; several picture books, including The Dark; and the books collectively titled All the Wrong Questions.
Brett Helquist’s celebrated art has graced books from the charming Bedtime for Bear, which he also wrote, to the New York Times-bestselling A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket to the glorious picture book adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. He lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York.
Michael Kupperman has done many illustrations for such publications as Fortune, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. He frequently writes scripts for DC Comics. This is his first book.
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More Books From These Creatives
Discover All the Books in the A Series of Unfortunate Events Series
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Book Details
- ISBN
- 9780064407663
- Publication Date
- August 25, 1999
- Publisher
- HarperCollins
- Page Count
- 176
- Words Per Page
- 137
- Audience
- Middle Grade
- Reading Age
- 8 - 12 years
- Lib. of Congress (LCCN)
- 99014750
- WorldCat Number (OCLC)
- 41070636
- Lexile® Level
- 1010L
- Scholastic Level
- V
- Est. Fountas & Pinnell Level
- ~X
- ATOS® Book Level
- 6.4
- Accelerated Reader® Points
- 4
- Accelerated Reader Quiz
- 41281
- Accelerated Reader Interest Level
- MG
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