"Fans will be over the moon, a phrase that here means exceedingly pleased. (Mystery. 8-14)"
Can an apprentice in a certain secret organization keep his associates safe and save a dying town—or is that one of the wrong questions?
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"Fans can still look forward to Volume 3 of All the Wrong Questions, coming in October 2014: fabulous (which here means 'very good' rather than 'not real'). (Mystery/short stories. 8-14)"
How many mysteries lurk in the no-longer-seaside town of Stain'd-by-the-Sea? Thirteen.
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"For all its enigmatic nature, the tale provides a clear reason for drawing one's own conclusions: Observing and recording the results through a personal filter makes a good story. (Picture book. 5-8)"
Young investigators, a girl and boy old enough to ride the city bus alone, offer 29 observations associated with a building in another town.
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"Fans of the Series of Unfortunate Events will be in heaven picking out tidbit references to the tridecalogy, but readers who've yet to delve into that well of sadness will have no problem enjoying this weird and witty yarn. (Mystery. 8-12)"
"Conceived as an alternative to 'Peter and the Wolf' but more a send-up than an informational visit to the pit, the episode isn't likely to make much of a lasting impression on young audiences. (Picture book. 8-10, adult)"
In this characteristically unsettling invitation to Meet the Orchestra, the Composer leads off—dead or, as the author puts it, "decomposing" at his desk.
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"The volume's size, as well as the book in general, may strike many as diminutive, which here means small in stature, but make no mistake as to its usefulness, as many a Christmas stocking will accept such an endeavor in lieu of a real lump of coal. (Picture book. 8 & up)"
One might say that Snicket, author of the wildly successful A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Helquist, the illustrator of same, have diminished their talents with this short, illustrated Christmas story about a talking lump of coal.
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The third book in A Series of Unfortunate Events (The Bad Beginning, 1999, etc.) has all the stuff of its predecessors' melodrama—bold narration, dark humor, exaggerated emotions and dialogue, humorously stereotypical characters, and an overriding conflict between good and evil.
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"Those who enjoy a little poison in their porridge will find it wicked good fun. (b&w illustrations, not seen) (Fiction. 10-12)"
The Baudelaire children—Violet, 14, Klaus, 12, and baby Sunny—are exceedingly ill-fated; Snicket extracts both humor and horror from their situation, as he gleefully puts them through one terrible ordeal after another.
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