McCallion
Quest
Book Review
Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events
By: Kristina Rowell, Editor
Lemony
Snicket is the author of the best selling childrens’ book A Series of
Unfortunate events. The series has currently 11 books published, and
altogether, 18 million copies have been sold worldwide since 1999. You’d
think that children would be more interested in reading some cheerful,
happily ever after books, but clearly Lemony Snicket’s creation of woeful
tales has become very popular.
A Series of Unfortunate Events
is about the miserable lives of three very unlucky orphans; Violet, Claus,
and Sunny Beaudelaire, who find themselves placed in the care of the
villainous Count Olaf after hearing the devastating news that their parents
had died in a fire. Count Olaf forces the children to do many backbreaking
chores while he plots to steal the enormous fortune that the orphans have
inherited. The series is full of twists and obstacles that the children must
face, and by using an incredible amount of courage and quick thinking, the
three Beaudelaire orphans refuse to give up or give in to the evil Count
Olaf. If you’ve ever picked up one of the books from the series, you probably
have read the summary on the back cover. Lemony Snicket is very clear when
he says, “the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant”.
If you’re wondering why these miserable stories would interest anyone, why don’t you go to the Library and pick up the first book, the Bad Beginning, or if you rather, you could go see the movie! The first three books of the series has been transformed into a feature film that hit the big screen on December 17th. Jim Carrey stars as Count Olaf, Emily Browning as Violet, Liam Aiken as Claus, and Shelby Hoffman and Kara Hoffman share the role of the youngest Beaudelaire orphan, Sunny. Jude Law is also in the film, but as the Voice of Lemony Snicket. Jim Carrey had a lot of fun being an evil villain, and he is also very enthusiastic about the film. “I felt like I landed in The Wizard Of Oz,” exclaims Carrey. “This project really impressed me”. Maybe Lemony Snicket wouldn’t recommend reading his books or watching the movie based on them, but maybe you would.