By Micaiah Merrick,Leavitt Area High School

If you’re looking to read an interesting and informative article then you should stop reading this immediately. This is a brief over view of a book about three extremely unfortunate orphans and the mysterious man who wrote it, all of whom are very miserable, so prepare to be uninterested.

Lets start with the author. Lemony Snicket. The only thing known about him is that he “was born before you were and is likely to die before you too” (www.lemonysnicket.com). Every picture taken of him is from behind so no one knows exactly what he looks like or who he is. No one knows if Lemony Snicket is even his real name or just a penname is the illusive Phillip Ardagh also him? Ardagh has the same writing style as Snicket and his biography is just as inconclusive. Another person who could possibly be Lemony Snicket is his supposed representative Daniel Handler. Snicket claims that he doesn’t deal with the public so he has a friend handle all of his public relations, however no one has ever heard of this theoretical famous author except in conjunction with Snicket.

The books “A Series of Unfortunate Events” are just as amazingly depressing as the author himself. The story starts off with the death of the three Baudelaire children’s parents in a tragic fire. They are forced to live with a distant relative named Count Olaf who is a truly ghastly man. The Baudelaire parents left a large fortune behind which will belong to the children when Violet, the oldest daughter, turns eighteen. Count Olaf tries to steal their fortune and kill the children. If you want to know if he succeeds you will just have to go out and read the books yourself, but consider yourself warned that there is no happy ending to be found and the movie “A Series of Unfortunate Events” is sure to be equally disappointing. If you dare you may also visit the grisly website www.lemonysnicket.com or read Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography to find out more.