Okay, I'm late to the party, but only by a decade. I just started reading the first book in the Series of Unfortunate Events collection, The Bad Beginning. Yep, many of you may have shared these books with your children already, but for the handful of you, like me, who've not had the pleasure, it's not too late to share these with your own.

Snicket, whose name evokes the idea the author is chuckling as he tells his stories, has formed a series that makes for a great read aloud. They have a fairy tale-esque feel to them. Snickett is forthright in explaining that one should not expect to read a happy story. He adds that readers who dislike unpleasant tales should put his book down and walk away, which of course is the perfect way to get a young one to want to read something.

Lemony Snicket (This is not the author's real name. It's Daniel Handler.) is clearly having fun with his stories of the Baudelaire children and the dreadful events they must live through. It may sound odd to enjoy reading about three children who become orphans and suffer one ill-fated outcome after another, but such is the nature of adolescence (and yes, I do count myself among them). There's something delicious about seeing what more the author can heap upon his young characters. Now, before anyone takes to much of this to heart, bear in mind that Mr. Snickett's three lead characters continually find a way to thwart their awful situations. But, I digress.

I cannot emphasize enough how good these books are for developing a stronger, deeper, understanding of words.The narrator frequently stops to explain a word directly to his readers, which he feels is important for them (us) to know. When a Mr. Poe is attempting to move the Baudelaire children along it's written as follows:

                        "...I'm dropping you off on my way to the bank, so we need to leave as

                         soon as possible. Please get out of bed and get dressed," he said briskly.

                         The word "briskly" here means "quickly, so as to get the Baudelaire

                         children to leave the house."

Surprisingly this injection by the narrator does not detract from the story and instead proves to be a welcome, momentary, diversion for children still aquiring new words. Snickett will in other instances define how some words have multiple meanings depending on the context. For the word "lousy" he explains that it can mean when things are terrible, of course, but also that it can refer to it's more original usage -covered with lice. (Louse being the singular for lice.)

If you're still not sold, then why not check out book one, A Bad Beginning, which is availble for free online at http://www.lemonysnicket.com/  It would be most unfortunate if you didn't.