Series of Unfortunate Events

-------------------------------------------------

Origins

The author of the series, Lemony Snicket (the pen name of American novelist Daniel Handler) has said in an interview with online entertainment-magazine The A.V. Club that he decided to write a children's story when he was trying to find a publisher for his first novel, The Basic Eight.[1] One of the publishers, HarperCollins, passed on The Basic Eight, but they were interested in his writing a story for children. Handler thought it was a terrible idea at first, but met with the publishers to discuss the book. They challenged him to write the book he wished he could have read when he was ten. He retooled a manuscript he had for a mock-Gothic book for adults,[2] which became a "Gothic novel about children growing up through terrible things", a concept which the publishers liked, to Handler's surprise. The first book in the series was The Bad Beginning, released September 30, 1999. When asked in a Moment Magazine interview about the Baudelaire children and Handler's own Jewish heritage he replied "Oh yeah! Yes. The Baudelaires are Jewish! I guess we would not know for sure but we would strongly suspect it, not only from their manner but from the occasional mention of a rabbi or bar mitzvah or synagogue. The careful reader will find quite a few rabbis."[3] Handler claimed that watching the local news frequently and seeing the depressing stories of crime, violence and hardship was part of the inspiration of the book series.[4]

-------------------------------------------------

[edit]Plot summary

The series follows the adventures of three siblings: the Baudelaire orphans. Violet Baudelaire, the eldest, is fourteen when the series begins and is an inventor. Klaus Baudelaire, the middle child, is twelve when the books begin; he loves books and is an extraordinary reader. Sunny Baudelaire is a baby in the beginning of the series; she also develops a love for cooking later on in the series. In the early books,...