The Bad Beginning

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning

Lemony Snicket

©1999

162 Pages

Ages 9-12

Summary

When the Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire lose their parents to a mysterious fire, they suddenly find themselves orphans with no where to go. Mr. Poe takes them to live with their "closest" living relative, Count Olaf who sees them as nothing more than a way for him to get his hand on their parent's fortune. When he realizes that the only way for him to get any of the money is for him to marry one of the children, he contrives a plan. He and his theater group set out to put on a play. He plays the groom while Violet plays the bride. Olaf gets his neighbor, Justice Strauss, to play the judge and when she marries them on stage, Olaf breaks character and announces that his brilliant plan has succeeded. When everyone turns to Justice Strauss and expects her to tell them that the marriage was not legal, she says that everything was done right and that legally Violet was not married to the Count. However, Violet then pipes up and explained that the marriage document was not legal because she signed the marriage certificate with her left hand. Because she is right handed, the signature on the document was not her signature. Mr. Poe finally realizes what a mistake it was putting the children with Count Olaf and immediately sets out to find them another home.

Other books in the Series:

The Reptile Room

The Wide Window

The Miserable Mill

The Austere Academy

The Ersatz Elevator

The Vile Village

The Hostile Hospital

The Carnivorous Carnival

The Slippery Slope

The Grim Grotto

The Penultimate Peril

The End

Other Books by the Author:

Horse Radish

The Unauthorized Autobiography

The Beatrice Letters