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As the three Baudelaire orphans warily approach their new home Prufrock Preparatory School : they can't help but notice the enormous stone arch bearing the school's motto Memento Mori or "Remember you will die." This is not a cheerful greeting and certainly marks an inauspicious beginning to a very bleak story just as we have come to expect from Lemony Snickett's Series of Unfortunate Events, the deliciously morbid set of books that began with The Bad Beginning and only got worse.

Ages 10+

Average Customer Rating:

The Baudelaires survive a really bad school	Customer Rating:
In which the children survive a really bad school, and meet some new friends with something in common. Followed by: The Ersatz Elevator (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 6), my personal favorite in the whole series.

The beginnings of a main plot?

Customer Rating:

Ah, what can be better than shipping off a pathetic trio to an abusive private school? (And everyone likes to think they're so much better?) For lack of a decent guardian, the Baudelairs are forced to spend time at a deranged school full of deranged characters and violin concerts. It's as clever and hilarious as the rest of the series... but now with a sudden mystery that pops up with the introduction of new characters. Folks, this is where this series gets its meat.

A Lot of Mystery and High-Class Vocabulary

Customer Rating:

Have you ever wondered what it would be like living as an orphan whose rich parents passed away in a terrible fire? Well Violet, Klaus, and Sunny know. Join them on their woeful adventures to different guardians in the Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. In the 5th book of this series (The Austere Academy) Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are at their 5th home, a low-class academy with mean kids, a mean principal, and bad lunches. Their awful Count Olaf (a master of disguise) is still trying to steal their fortune in this suspenseful tale. Book #5, The Austere Academy, is my favorite book in the series. This book has a lot of mystery and high-class vocabulary. It is mysterious how Lemony describes the school. It looks like sad office buildings. Its motto is "Remember, you'll die." It made me think this school would be an unpleasant school. The vocabulary helped me a great deal to understand what was going on. Liam D. Grade 6 Ms. Kawatachi

Very Strict Indeed

Customer Rating:

This is the 5th book in Lemony Snicket's "Series of Unfortunate Events". In this book, the Baudelaires are put in a boarding school where they are made to live in a shack dripping with goo and crawling with small crabs. If one forgets to make an appointment to see the head of the academy,vice-principal Nero, they are not allowed silverware at mealtimes. Violet's teacher tells stories that are only a few sentences long and boring or non-sensical, and the students are supposed to remember each one. Klaus's teacher has her class measure everything, and to remember each measurement. Sunny, the baby, is made to be Nero's secretary. Every evening, Nero - a terrible violin player - makes all students sit through a six-hour concert of his. The gym teacher is even more hard on the Baudelaires. Every evening, he makes them run laps all night long. One very good thing happens to the children, at last. They make two friends, who are good friends at that. They risk their lives for the Baudelaires and, though Count Olaf did manage to find the children at the academy, at least the Baudelaires escape him. In all probability, we will see their new friends again - that is, if they are still alive.

audio books	Customer Rating:
These audio books help children that are having trouble with the written word. I also use them in the car, so each trip we hear more of the story. The kids love them and I think it makes them interested in reading.