Good Morning KHTS listeners,

Hi, my name is Allison Hall, and I am a 4th grader in Mrs. Marcucilli’s class at James Foster Elementary school in the Saugus School District.

I’ll be reviewing “The Bad Beginning,” written by Lemony Snicket and illustrated by Brett Helquist.  It was written in 1999 and is 162 pages long.

“The Bad Beginning” is the first of 13 books in the “Series of Unfortunate Events” series.  This series tells the story of three children, Klaus, Violet, and Sunny Baudelaire.  This book begins when the children are orphaned when their parents are killed in a fire in their home.  Alone, with no parents and no home, Mr. Poe, a banker who is in charge of the Baudelaire fortune, brings the children to their guardian, whose name is Count Olaf.  Count Olaf only cares about the children’s fortune and tries to steal it throughout the series.  In this book, Count Olaf plans to marry Violet, the oldest girl, so he can get their fortune.  Fortunately, the children sense he is up to no good and try to tell Mr. Poe, but he doesn’t believe them.  So, the children are on their own to try to stick together and stop Count Olaf.

I loved this book because it is full of adventure and mystery.  So, if you are not afraid of a sneaky villain and if you want to cheer for three heroes, read “The Bad Beginning.”