The Bad Beginning, the first book in Lemony Snicket's wonderful and bestselling A Series of Unfortunate Events, introduces readers to the misadventures - and misfortune! - of the Baudelaire children Violet, Klaus and baby Sunny.Their misfortunes begin when Mr. Poe informs them that their parents perished in a fire that destroyed their whole house. But, of course, what follows is even more dreadful... The children thought it was bad when the well-meaning Poes bought them grotesque-colored clothing that itched, but when they are ushered to the dilapidated doorstep of the miserable, thin, unshaven, shiny-eyed, money-grubbing Count Olaf, they know that they - and their family fortune - are in real trouble.Reminiscent of Roald Dahl and Charles Dickens, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is ideal reading for children aged 9 and above - and this is the perfect place to start!