Review by Booklist Review
Gr. 4-6. Part of the fun of the droll Series of Unfortunate Events books is narrator Lemony Snicket's practice of making cryptic remarks about his knowledge of and involvement in the Baudelaire orphans' shadowy background story. These mysterious events are unlikely to be explained before the thirteenth book, the projected end of the series. In the meantime, readers fixated on this puzzle will be happy to pore over this "unauthorized autobiography," an eclectic scrapbook of documents such as letters, newspaper articles, and transcripts of meetings and conversations, illustrated with vintage, black-and-white snapshots. Despite bits of humor that extend from the clever title to the reversible book jacket, from the copyright statement to the index, the book comes across as a rather formless vehicle for clues and red herrings. Without the customary characters and plot to keep the momentum going, some readers will bog down before finishing the book. Only for devoted Snicket fans . . . but, of course, libraries are fullof devoted Snicket fans. Carolyn Phelan.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A certain maniacal glee went into the creation of this archly humorous volume. Beginning with the suggestion on the front flap of the dust jacket to disguise its dangerous contents (Make use of this book's reversible jacket immediately), readers will know they're in possession of something deliciously left of normal. The jacket reverses to display a hilarious parody of Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events covers, entitled The Pony Party! and featuring The Luckiest Kids in the World! by Loney M. Setnick. Meanwhile, the contents lead readers on a merry goose chase. The 13 (naturally) chapters burst with red herrings, non sequiturs, mysterious letters, diary entries and so on not to mention fading black-and-white photographs with captions such as Total strangers and W?H?O? The narrative makes for a most satisfying tease, larded with such Snicketisms as For various reasons, portions of this chapter have been changed or made up entirely, including this sentence. It would seem that Snicket's obituary from the highly unreliable Daily Punctilio (which is reproduced in the book) is premature, and that there will indeed be more installments about the Baudelaires, though nothing is certain in the end and readers are left nearly as in the dark about Snicket as they were at the start. Of course, this is all part of the fun, guaranteed to make the author's fans itch to get their hands on a copy of this devious romp masquerading as an autobiography. Ages 10-up. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-8 Beneath a simple, seductive Tyvek cover resembling manila and plain brown paper, snippets of Snicket's life appear in 13 chapters of notes, letters, newspaper clippings, songs, photos, telegrams, screenplay excerpts, steamship tickets, and meeting minutes. Daniel Handler prefaces the material. It is not stated who compiled this information, although there is a speculative tale of how it reached the publisher. Snicket begins with a letter about the inaccurate report of his death published in The Daily Punctilio and comments on a folk song detailing his abduction at a young age by the V.F.D. It is noted that all members of this organization were snatched at an early age, chronicled with black-and-white photographs. Subsequent documents from and about characters in "A Series of Unfortunate Events," such as Poe, Olaf, Esme, and others, may or may not reveal their connection to V.F.D., which is used as an acronym for many different organizations, events, and things. Allusion is made to a solid connection between the Snickets and Baudelaires; clearly they are in imminent danger and in need of the many disguise suggestions provided. The book's high-gloss pages have the look of a scrapbook with many gray pages reminiscent of early photocopies. References are made to Kafka, Fitzgerald, and children's authors. There is a circuitously cross-referenced index. Snicket fans will clamor for this intriguing parody of an autobiography/mystery. -Laura Scott, Baldwin Public Library, Birmingham, MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Snicket, the pseudonymous author of this series, presents his own (fictitious) life story in this cleverly designed but self-indulgent volume. Readers hoping for edification--about the elusive SnicketÆs life or the fate of his literary creations, the Baudelaires--may find the content of this hodgepodge of letters, newspaper clippings, diary entries, and archival photographs to be not just enigmatic but completely baffling. From HORN BOOK Fall 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
