What ages is The Bad Beginning suitable for?

The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed The Bad Beginning and determined it is suitable for children aged 7-10 years old

What genres is The Bad Beginning?

The Bad Beginning features in the following genres: Featured Books for 7+ readers, Featured Books for 9+ readers, Recommendations, Adventure Stories, Fantasy / Magical, Film & TV Tie-ins, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Special features and related items

What formats is The Bad Beginning available in?

Paperback, Hardback. Not Available.

Who wrote The Bad Beginning?

The Bad Beginning was written by Lemony Snicket and published by Farshore an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

How many pages is The Bad Beginning?

The Bad Beginning has 162 pages

Is The Bad Beginning part of a series?

Yes it is part of A Series of Unfortunate Events series

7+ readers 9+ readers

The Bad Beginning

By Lemony Snicket (author), Brett Helquist (illustrator)
Part of the A Series of Unfortunate Events series

Paperback
In Stock
£8.99 £8.09

Hardback
Not Available

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LoveReading4Kids Says

This bestselling series (in fact in the top five of bestsellers of the last decade), now at long last available in paperback, launches with the suitably named title that charts the unlucky reason why the whole woeful story of the three Baudelaire siblings was ever told.

This is the wretched book that started all the trouble. Violet, Sunny and Klaus are three intelligent, charming and resourceful children but they suffer some very bad luck indeed when their parents die in a fire that destroys their home and they are packed off to live with their nasty relative, Count Olaf. Here they encounter a greedy villain, disgusting food, strange behaviour by those around them and much more - all of which is revealed in the hugely entertaining, totally deadpan humour that has made this series so original and so captivating.

Books in The Series of Unfortunate Events:

1. The Bad Beginning

2. The Reptile Room

3. The Wide Window

4. The Miserable Mill

5. The Austere Academy

6. The Ersatz Elevator

7. The Vile Village

8. The Hostile Hospital

9. The Carnivorous Carnival

10. The Slippery Slope

11. The Grim Grotto

12. The Penultimate Peril

13. The End

LoveReading4Kids

About The Bad Beginning

Lemony Snicket's The Bad Beginning is the first book in the globally bestselling series A Series of Unfortunate Events. This exclusive gold foiled 20th anniversary hardback gift edition commemorates the miserable fact that every child in the world has wanted this brilliantly funny book for twenty years.

Read the full description

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Suitable For:	7+ readers 9+ readers
Other Genres:	Adventure Stories Fantasy / Magical Film & TV Tie-ins

About

The Bad Beginning Synopsis

Lemony Snicket's The Bad Beginning is the first book in the globally bestselling series A Series of Unfortunate Events. This exclusive gold foiled 20th anniversary hardback gift edition commemorates the miserable fact that every child in the world has wanted this brilliantly funny book for twenty years.

Perfect for fans of Roald Dahl and Mr Gum, young readers of 9 to 11 will adore the mischievously dark humour. Lemony Snicket's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' has been made into a blockbuster Hollywood film starring Jim Carrey and is also a hit Netflix TV series. Now with new anniversary blurb by the mysterious author himself.

Dear Reader,

For the past twenty years, my books have been upsetting the countless readers who have been foolish enough to begin to read them. The three Baudelaire siblings and their lives of misery and woe have now been responsible for more than two decades of weeping. From the very first page of this book, when the children are at the beach and receive terrible news, to the last page, when something goes wrong at the worst possible moment, disaster strikes Violet, Klaus and Sunny wherever they go.

In this short book alone, the three youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, and cold porridge for breakfast.

I have spent the last twenty years writing down these unpleasant details so that they might be available to the general public, but there is nothing stopping the general public, or you, from putting this book down at once and reading something less upsetting, if you prefer that sort of thing.

With all due respect,
Lemony Snicket

Are you unlucky enough to own all 13 adventures?

The Bad Beginning
The Reptile Room
The Wide Window
The Miserable Mill
The Austere Academy
The Ersatz Elevator
The Vile Village
The Hostile Hospital
The Carnivorous Carnival
The Slippery Slope
The Grim Grotto
The Penultimate Peril
The End

And what about All the Wrong Questions? In this four-book series a 13-year-old Lemony chronicles his dangerous and puzzling apprenticeship in a mysterious organisation that nobody knows anything about:

'Who Could That Be at This Hour?'
'When Did you Last See Her?'
'Shouldn't You Be in School?'
'Why is This Night Different from All Other Nights?'

About This Edition

ISBN:	9780755500321
Publication date:	7th January 2021
Author:	Lemony Snicket
Illustrator:	Brett Helquist
Publisher:	Farshore an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
Format:	Hardback
Pagination:	162 pages
Series:	A Series of Unfortunate Events
Suitable For:	7+ readers 9+ readers
Other Genres:	Adventure Stories Fantasy / Magical Film & TV Tie-ins

Author

About Lemony Snicket

Lemony Snicket had an unusual education and a perplexing youth, and now endures a despondent adulthood. His previous published works include the thirteen volumes in A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Composer Is Dead, and 13 Words. His forthcoming book, “Who Could That Be at This Hour?”, which is the first question in a series of All The Wrong Questions, will be made available only to the general public on October 23, 2012. He is represented in all matters literary, legal, and social by Daniel Handler, author of the Printz Honor-award winning Why We Broke Up.

Click here to read a Q&A with the author from top children's publisher Egmont or read on at your own risk...

Lemony Snicket was born before you were, and is likely to die before you as well. His family has roots in a part of the country which is now underwater, and his childhood was spent in the relative splendor of the Snicket Villa which has since become a factory, a fortress and a pharmacy and is now, alas, someone else's villa. To the untrained eye, Mr. Snicket's hometown would not appear to be filled with secrets. Untrained eyes have been wrong before.

The aftermath of the scandal was swift, brutal and inaccurately reported in the periodicals of the day. It is true, however, that Mr. Snicket was stripped of several awards by the reigning authorities, including Honorable Mention, the Grey Ribbon and First Runner Up. The High Council reached a convenient if questionable verdict and Mr. Snicket found himself in exile.

Though his formal training was chiefly in rhetorical analysis, he has spent the last several eras researching the travails of the Baudelaire orphans. This project, being published serially by HarperCollins, takes him to the scenes of numerous crimes, often during the offseason. Eternally pursued and insatiably inquisitive, a hermit and a nomad, Mr. Snicket wishes you nothing but the best.

Due to the world-wide web of conspiracy which surrounds him, Mr. Snicket often communicates with the general public through his representative, Daniel Handler. Mr. Handler has had a relatively uneventful life, and is the author of three books for adults, The Basic Eight, Watch Your Mouth, and Adverbs, none of which are anywhere near as dreadful as Mr. Snicket's. Like Mr. Snicket, Mr. Handler wishes you nothing but the best.

More About Lemony Snicket