A series of Unforunate events

A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book The First

Lemony Snicket

Brett Helquist

Scholastic, 2002

3-5th

"If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book.  In this book, not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle.  This is because not very many happy things happened in the lives of the three Baudelaire youngsters." I love how this book opens, with a warning as to what is going to happen in this story.  In my opinion it makes me more intrigued as to what is going to take place that is so not happy.  One thing that might be possible at this point, asking the class why he might start the book off in the manor that it does.  It might be too much of an advanced question but it could make for an interesting conversation if nothing else.  More than likely the teacher would have to lead that discussion.  Another extraordinary thing about this book, and I assume with the whole series, is that there is vocabulary built into the story line.  He uses words that the students might not know and it gives them an opportunity to increase their language while enjoying a interesting book.  An obvious activity to do with the students is to have them compile a vocabulary when the find the words within the story.  Also you could ask the students what they think about this technique.  Violet is the eldest likes to skip rocks, she is fourteen years old, they like to go to the beach even when it is grey and cloudy out, they claim it is the best time when there is no one there.  She is also quite interested in inventing things, and if you knew Violet you would know that when she tied her hair back in a ribbon that she was thinking really hard and did not want to be bothered with hair.  Klaus, the middle child, while at the beach would sit and examine creatures in tide pools.  Klaus is just over twelve, and he was quite the intelligent lass.  He would sit in their parents huge library and read the books, he had already read a great many of them.  He was quite skilled at retaining the information that he read.  Sunny was the youngest, just an infant, but her favorite thing to do was bite things.  She was not to the point where she could speak words but she would make some sort of shrieks that usually meant much more than it would appear.  

One grey day the Baudelaire children were alone on the beach when they say a strange looking figure walking towards them.  Violet, who still had a stone in her hand, felt the need to throw it at the figure. If a strange figure was walking towards you, would you also have the same desire that Violet had, especially since you were the only one on the beach?  As the figure got closer the children realized that it was Mr. Poe, this was quite a relief since they knew Mr. Poe.  He was a friend of their parents and they had often met him at dinner parties.  One thing that was special and made Violet, Klaus, and Sunny was the fact that their parents allowed them to be apart of the dinner parties.  They were allowed to sit at the dinner table and talk with the adults where as, a lot of parents did not allow their children to participate in such events.  What emotions do you think the Baudelaire children had at these type of parties, especially when they were quite young?  How do you think it would make you feel?  Mr. and Mrs. Baudelaire raised their children to be very polite, even when they did not feel like it.  They children try to make polite conversation, especially since it seemed very odd that Mr. Poe would come to the beach when he clearly was not dressed to be there.  After only a few minutes Mr Poe says, "Your parents, have perished in a terrible fire."  Mr. Poe had no tact in telling the children that their parents had died, that their house had burned, that they were now orphans.  I do not know how I would have handled telling Violet, Klaus, and Sunny the news about their parents, I would hope that I would have been able to find a better way of telling them this horrific news.  Here they also interject a vocabulary.  What would be going through your mind after hearing this news, how would you react?  If you knew that your house was going to burn down, what would you have wanted to grab beforehand?  Keep in mind that you can only take what you can carry.  Mr. Poe was the executor of the Bauddelaires and therefore was in charge of their money and taking care of the children, making sure they had a home to live in.  For a while the children stayed with Mr. Poe while he figured out where they should move to, their parents wanted the children to live with a family member.  He told the children one evening that he had found a family member of theirs that lived in the city, the children were quite perplexed because they had never meet him before even though they lived in the same city.  The next morning Mr. Poe wakes up the children to take them to Count Olaf, he had to take them on his was to the bank.  

Mr. Poe pulled up to Count Olaf's house, it was the prettiest house on the block.  It was made of clean red brick, you could see a well maintained garden, and standing in the door way was the kindest looking woman about to go water her plants.  She was Justice Strauss, and when she shook hands with Violet, Violet had a warm feeling that she had not felt since their parents died.  They were quite sad to find out that this was not the house they were going to be living in, but in fact the house was across the street.  Count Olaf's house was the complete opposite of Justice Strauss's house, it was covered with soot and looked as though it was quite run down.  There is an amazing simile on page 21, "the entire building sagged to the side, like a crooked tooth."  This would be perfect to point out to the class, especially for a language arts lesson.  This simile makes the image extremely imaginable, especially to younger children.  One of the first things that Violet noticed was an image of an eye carved into his front door.  What would you think if you saw this and you were about to enter your new home?  Count Olaf was a tall and extremely thin man, he was dressed in a grey suit that had many stains on it.  Instead of having two eyebrows he appeared to only have a one, a very long one that ran together, he was also unshaven so it did not help with his appearance.  Klaus tried not to cry as he looked around his new "home" since it was not in the best condition and seemed quite depressing.  Right off the bat Count Olaf asks Mr. Poe about the Bauldaire fortune but, he tells the Count that the money will not be used until Violet is of age.  At this the Count's eyes glinted like an angry dogs eyes do.  What would you think about Count Olaf already inquiring about the money?  What do you think his intentions are.  There is also another great simile in this sentence, when they compare Count Olaf's eyes to that of an angry dog, another addition to a language art.  When Mr. Poe left the Bauldaire orphans wished they could go back with Mr. Poe, when the children looked down they noticed that the Count had the exact same eye tattooed on his ankle that was on the front door.  I wonder what the significance of the eye is.  

Snicket then asks the reader about first impressions, he says that the initial thoughts usually change over time.  Would you agree? Yet again I LOVE LOVE LOVE how he talks to the reader, as if he were sitting there telling you the story face to face.  Well Snicket tells us that he wishes this were true of Count Olaf but, it is not.  He is as horrible as he appeared on that first day and his house was just as depressing as it seemed.  He took the children to their room, which all three were to share, and found that there was only one bed and they had to take the curtains off of the window to create a make shift bed for Sunny.  They had no closet just a giant cardboard box where their clothes were just piled into.  Of course there was also a huge painting on the wall of the eye that appeared everywhere in the house.  Would anyone what to live in this house with Count Olaf? How would it feel to go from living in a very nice, large house to this?  Count Olaf was horrible to the children, making them do all sorts of awful chores.  He announced that his "theater troupe" was going to be coming to dinner that evening and the children were going to make dinner for all ten of them.  This seems like such a ridiculous task for children, who none are older than 15, to do.  They had never cooked such a meal, in fact none of them knew how to cook.  It just seems to me that he is using the children more as slaves then family.  The Count leaves the children a little bit of money and no real instructions as to what he wants them to serve.  The orphans are obviously not happy with their new "life".  Violet and Klaus talk about how much they hate it and they wish their parents were still alive.  What he writes next is amazing, "Sometimes, just saying that you hate something, and having someone else to agree with you, can make you feel better about a terrible situation."  Do you agree with that, does it help to talk about these kinds of things?  Another thing that I love about the style of this book is that he makes you feel like you are not the only one that has hard situations.  He makes it relatable to the reader.  The children have no idea what to do about dinner, especially since they could find no cookbooks, so they decide to go over to Justice Strauss's house to see if they could get a recipe to make.  They copy down a puttanecca recipe then go with Strauss to the market to buy what they need.  In this scene there is some magnificent vocab. words that relate to food, could be used in a nutrition lesson or perhaps just interesting to see if the children have ever had any of the things that are being talked about.  Olaf returns that evening with his troupe, he yells out for the "Orphans", as he calls them.  Despicable.  Then he freaks out because they did not make roast beef, even though he did  not tell them that was what he wanted them to make.  He yells at them and then picks Sunny up and dangles her high up, they other two children tell him to put her down but, he does not until his troupe arrives and enters the kitchen.  They end up eating the dinner after a while of complaining about it and just get drunk off of wine.  Olaf tells the children that after they clean up they are to go to bed, well at this Klaus freaks out and yells at him, in turn Olaf strikes him across the cheek knocking his glasses off his face, leaving a bruise on his face.  I can't imagine even having that thought run across my mind.  It is all too sad to know that this kind of thing probably happens more than we would like to think.  If you feel that it would be appropriate, you could ask the class how it would feel to have this done to you.  The children are so shocked and shocked by what happened that they all cry the night away.  

I think this is an excellent thing to include in the story because it shows children that it is not a big deal to cry when they are sad.  It might help some of the students who are not in the best situations are home to realize that it is ok and even good, to cry when they are sad.  

After the events of the previous day Violet and Klaus (and Sunny) decide that after they are done with their chores they are going to go down to the bank and find Mr. Poe and tell him that they no longer wish to live with Count Olaf.  So they set off, not knowing where they are going at all, to find Mr. Poe.  They finally reach to bank and try to talk to him but he is very distracted and tells them that there is nothing he can do about it.  I hope that today this would never happen, although I fear that it does.  Towards the end of the chapter another vocab. word is introduced and Snicket even gives different examples of how the word is used.  Excellent way for children to expound on their language art skills.  

The next morning the children awake to find that Olaf is still at the house, despite the fact that every other morning he is not, and also that he has made them oatmeal and even put raspberries on it.  He proves that he did not poison it and they children enjoy a wonderful, warm breakfast.  Then he tells them that Mr. Poe had called and told him how the children had come down to the bank and complained about the Count.  This shocked them since they thought the meeting was held in confidence.  Count Olaf "apologizes" to the Bauldaires for being standoffish and tells them that they are to be part of his next play.  He tells Violet that she will be playing the role of his wife, at this Violet has a dreadful image of being his wife.  Violet tries everything to get out of being in the play but Olaf is forcing her to be in the play.  The Bauldaires have a feeling that the Count is up to something, trying to get at their money.

The beginning of the next chapter Snicket, yet again, warns the reader that if they do not like terrible stories where terrible things happen to children, to put the book down immediately  and not to read on.  The children go over to Justice Strauss's library to try and read books about laws to see if they can discover what Olaf is up to.  While they are there a horrible member of the theater troupe comes over and fetches the children, for fear of finding out what is going on.  Klaus is able to smuggle a book back over to the Count's house.  He stays up all night reading the book about Nuptial Law, and he finally figures out what Olaf's plan is.  Its awesome how much Klaus loves to read, I feel that if children got really attached to him it would encourage them to read more books.  Which is always an awesome thing to happen.

Klaus wakes up early the next day to catch Olaf before he leaves to tell him how he has figured out what his plan is.  Olaf is going to marry Violet in order to get at the Bauldaire fortune.  Klaus then tells him that he is going to foil his plan and tell Violet of this evil plot, however much to his dismay, the Count had already thought out the whole process.  He captured Sunny and had her locked away in the forbidden tower.  Klaus tells Violet about Olaf's plan and she tries to refuse to be in the play.  Much to their surprise Olaf has Sunny in a bird cage dangling 30 feet in the air off of the towner.  Olaf explains how he is going to kill Sunny if Violet does not agree to marry him.  Of course Violet agrees since she does not want her baby sister to be killed.  Immediately   Violet tries to start inventing away out of this, but it seemed impossible.  

That night Violet stays up all night making a grappling hook so she can scale the towner wall and get her sister down and out of the cage.  She is successful at making one and getting it to where she can climb the tower.  Unfortunately it hooks to a man that is in the theater troupe that has hooks for hands, and now she is locked up in the tower along with her baby sister.  Shortly after Klaus is brought up and locked in the room as well.  Violet, in my eyes, is one of the most selfless people, she agrees to marry Olaf in order to save her sister, how many people would do that?  

Finally the night of the play comes and they children are moved down to the set and dressed in their costumes, under close watch of course.  Justice Strauss had been asked to be in the play and since it had always been a dream of hers to act she readily agreed.  Olaf also told her to read straight from the book so that it would sound more like a "real" wedding.  In fact he did this so that he could get a legal marriage while on the stage.  Violet comes out in the last scene and says "I do" when it is her turn, then they have to sign an real document to make the marriage legal.  The Count however does not know that Violet has already figured out a plan, and she signs that document with her left hand, even though she is right handed.  After the scene is over, Olaf stops the play and announces to the audience what has just happened.  As you well can imagine the audience is appalled that they were apart of just a despicable thing.  It also appears that there is nothing that they can do since it was in front of an official Justice.  Olaf is extremely shocked when Violet tells him how she signed the paper with her left hand, making the document not legal.  Before Olaf can tell the member of the troupe to drop Sunny, she has already been brought down and was in Klaus's arms.  Olaf switches off the lights in order to escape and not go to jail, Mr. Poe takes the children home until he can find out where they are to go next.  Before Olaf runs he tells Violet how he will find them and get their money then kill them.  

The story ends with another line that I am quite fond of, "They didn't understand it, but like so many unfortunate events in life, just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it isn't so."

I loved this story and these books will absolutely in my classroom.  There is soooooo much that can be taken from the book.  Vocabulary is scattered everywhere, there are amazing lessons that can be learn and applied to everyday life.  It is just such a good read and I can easily see how children would enjoy it!