The Bad Beginning - Book 1 of A Series of Unfortunate Events
Readers rate it 3.9 (1.1K on Hardcover)
162 pages · Released 2000 · Scholastic, Inc.
Content report card
The Bad Beginning - Book 1 of A Series of Unfortunate Events parent’s guide: what’s inside
Language
Sexual content
LGBTQ+ themes
Substance use
What it offers
Educational value
A note for parents
The Bad Beginning is a darkly humorous children's novel that opens with the death of the protagonists' parents but handles it with stylized, literary detachment rather than graphic detail. The story emphasizes sibling loyalty, intelligence, and resilience as three orphaned children face a scheming guardian intent on stealing their inheritance. While the tone is intentionally gloomy and some situations are threatening, the narrative voice maintains ironic distance that makes the book more clever than truly frightening for its intended audience.
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From the publisher
After the sudden death of their parents, the three Baudelaire children must depend on each other and their wits when it turns out that the distant relative who is appointed their guardian is determined to use any means necessary to get their fortune. After the sudden death of their parents, the three Baudelaire children must depend on each other and their wits when it turns out that the distant relative who is appointed their guardian is determined to use any means necessary to get their fortune.
Shelved under
- Fiction
- Humorous stories
- Brothers and sisters
- Orphans
- Children's fiction
- Brothers and sisters, fiction
- Orphans, fiction
- juvenile fiction
- Orphans -- Juvenile fiction
- Brothers and sisters -- Juvenile fiction
- Large type books
- Violet Baudelaire (Fictional character)
Books in the A Series of Unfortunate Events series
Full series in order →
The Reptile Room (A Series of Unfortunate Events #2)
A Series of Unfortunate Events
The Miserable Mill - Book 4 of A Series of Unfortunate Events
The Ersatz Elevator (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 6)
The Vile Village (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 7)
The Hostile Hospital
The Slippery Slope (A Series of Unfortunate Events #10)
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ISBN 9780439206471 · Scholastic, Inc.