Books 4-6 (The Miserable Mill; The Austere Academy; The Ersatz Elevator)

I bought these as gifts for my nephew and nieces. These books make learning the English language a delight and not burdensome. I highly recommend them, but don't tell the kids they'll have a bigger vocabulary when they are done.

Children will love this witty series of books. My inner twelve year old ran wild while reading. Most of the adult characters are dumber than lawn chairs. This facet of the stories is of course very appealing to young readers.
Preston McClear, author The Boy Under the Bed

Whilst working on my dissertation I prefer reading something highly distracting. Last year I chose Philip Pullmann's Dark Materials. This year my eye fell on Lemony Snicket's peculiar narration of the unfortunate Baudelaire children. I hesitate to recommend it to my 13-year old goldchild who might doubt his godmothers mental state or taste for literature. I am, however, highly entertained. Innovative, good English, funny, ... and I certainly want to know how it all ends; hopefully less unfortunate...! :o)

SOME PEOPLE WROTE THINGS LIKE THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR KIDS. BUT I THINK IT IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS EVER. I LIKE THESE BOOKS BECAUSE IT TEACHES LESSONS FROM TIME TO TIME. I CAN'T WAIT TO READ THE OTHER NINE BOOKS.

Delightful old-fashioned prose! Reminiscent of Miss Manners (who is well worth seeking on the store.com) and Margery Sharp's Miss Bianca series (sadly out of print, but available in our better-preserved libraries).

They are good books except for Carnivorous Carnival, but he author makes it so predictable! He says like "the Quagmires were wrong", instead of making it intense. And he defines every stupid word! And whats with Beatrice? So off subject! Make an autobiography if you want to mention Beatrice, Snicket!!

I bought these books (actually the first three box sets) on the recommendation of a friend. But I messed up, this was not what she said. I muddled through each of the 9 books because I will not give up and feel it would be a waste of my money to throw them away. But truly, I would have rather spent my time getting a root canal, or being anally probed by aliens. These books are horrible! He warns you, but you figure it's in jest and there will be a point, or an upside to them. There's not. The movie however, is entertaining. Go figure. Check them out from the library if you're really that curious, but don't waste your money.