A+Series+Of+Unfortunate+Events+A+Bad+Beginning

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning //by Lemony Snicket//
Snicket, Lemony (1999). A series of unfortunate events: The bad beginning. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

Page by Ariel Weeks

//A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning // is the start of a series of unfortunate stories of three Baudelaire children. The eldest child is a girl named Violet, followed by her twelve year old brother, Klaus, and infant sister, Sunny. A tragic event takes the lives of the children’s parents and they end up living with a relative whom they have never met, Count Olaf. The children soon discover that Count Olaf and his actor friends were solely after the Baudelaire fortune the children’s parents left behind that would be given to Violet when she became of age. While the children suffer through their days with Count Olaf, they do find a safe haven at Count Olaf's neighbor’s home of Justice Strauss, the town judge. Klaus is especially fond of books and Justice Strauss had an entire library. The three children piece together Count Olaf's plot to take over the Baudelaire fortune which is for him to marry Violet and take over the rights to the money. Violet would play a bride in the play Count Olaf is in and Justice Strauss would unknowingly and legally marry them. The children experience trial and error with many attempts to mess up Count Olaf and his friend's plan and they finally do in the last scene of the play. Although Count Olaf is fooled and all of the children are safe, it is unfortunate that they are not able to live with Justice Strauss according to their parent's will, they end up with Mr. Poe for the time being, and Count Olaf escapes and is not found. The series continues with the book, //A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room.//

I want to start off by saying that I really enjoyed this reading and just rented the second book from the library. I will probably read the whole series! If I like it, I definitely think students would like it. Since the book is very upfront about the death of the children's parents due to a fire and many other crude moments, I would think this book is best for 7th and 8th grade students. I understood the comedic relief in the story, but not sure that my target students would. Even so, they would find the book suspenseful and interesting. Students may be able to relate to the broken family situation that the Baudelaire children face and the overall notion of going through tough times. These children, although they had moments of weakness, used their minds and skills to make the best of their situation and even make changes. The book is full of good descriptive vocabulary terms, phrases, and facts, all with explanations. Like I said, if I couldn't put the book down, maybe students will be that interested too!

__Reading/ Language Arts: __
 * This book is at a 4th grade reading level. It would be a good option for an independent reading option or an option for a book report.
 * In a book report, students may have a section for unfamiliar vocabulary/ phrases/ etc. that they did not know before reading the book. In this story, most of the explanations and definitions are in the book, so writing it down in the book report would be reinforcing their knowledge of the vocab and more of independent practice.
 * In many sections of this book, there are many possible stopping points for students to make predictions. Require students to jot down or draw their predictions and reflect on them after the outcome occurs. I found myself making predictions a lot as I was reading. If students draw, they can use the Photograph of the Mind comprehension strategy we learned about in Chapter 5 of our text.
 * The novel has several pictures. For those who would prefer to draw instead of write the report, they could create a map of events with pictures, create a game board with quiz cards, or make comic strips.
 * There is a play scene at the end of the books. Have students create and act out an alternate ending. Students can group to come up with alternate endings in which Violet still does not marry Count Olaf, but still saves Sunny.
 * Teach/ supplement rhyme and alliteration. There is a lot in these books!

__Science: __
 * There is a situation where Sunny is being held hostage in a cage at the top of a tower described in the book. Have students group or work independently to first sketch the tower. Next, have students plot different ways that Violet can help Sunny escape. Provide materials for students to use to demonstrate their plan. They should be told that they will have to use a model or themselves to show how their plan will work. The teacher will go around to groups to listen to discussions and ask questions.
 * Ask: Was there ever a time you were in a situation where you could have used an invention? Have you even not been able to pull up your zipper that was at the back of your dress? Have you ever not been able to reach something? Has your bike ever lost a part and you had to walk? Think of a situation where you could have used an invention and today you will design it!

__Social Studies: __
 * Students can use any source in the library to look up nuptial law and gain an understanding of it. Once they have done that, they must research any other law about anything. Once they understand their newly learned law, they must come up with a case or short story demonstrating how the law works and can play out in a hypothetical situation. There should not be one format of delivery of this newly learned law. Students should be encouraged to act out a scene, create a story, set up a pretend court case scene, and any other ideas.
 * The Baudelaire children did not even know this relative they went to live with. Ask students if they can think of all of their family members. This would be a good time for an assignment on finding out past history and making a family tree of some sort. They can research by interviewing relatives, using an online source, etc. Also require students to find out where these family members live and record that on a map whether it be a state map or world map if needed. They key to this assignment would be to utilize methods of researching and to practice locating states/ countries.

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Resource: __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Printable enrichment activities for the complete series- <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This is a great site for ideas for all of the books in the series. There are very clever ideas and I especially like the one for science.