The Austere Academy: No.5 (A Series of Unfortunate Events)

Snicket, Lemony

ISBN 10: 1405208716 / ISBN 13: 9781405208710

Published by Egmont Books Ltd, 2003

About this Item

Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. A copy that has been read but remains in clean condition. All of the pages are intact and the cover is intact and the spine may show signs of wear. The book may have minor markings which are not specifically mentioned. Previous owners name.

Seller Inventory # wbs2143792887

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Austere Academy: No.5 (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
• Publisher: Egmont Books Ltd
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1405208716
• ISBN 13: 9781405208710
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Good
• Weight: 320 grams

About this title

Synopsis

The three Baudelaire orphans, Violet, Klaus and little Sunny, arrive at the Prufrock Preparatory School, only to be met by the unpleasant bully

Review

The Austere Academy continues Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events, the deliciously morbid set of books that began with The Bad Beginning and only got worse.

In The Austere Academy, Violet, Klaus and Sunny are at first optimistic--attending school is a welcome change for the book-loving trio, and the academy is allegedly safe from the dreaded Count Olaf, who is after their fortune. Hope dissipates quickly, however, when they meet Vice Principal Nero, a self-professed genius violinist who sneeringly imitates their every word. More dreadful still, he houses them in the tin Orphans Shack, crawling with toe-biting crabs and dripping with a mysterious tan fungus. A beam of light shines through the despair when the Baudelaires meet the Quagmires, two of three orphaned triplets who are no strangers to disaster and sympathize with their predicament. When Count Olaf appears on the scene disguised as Coach Genghis (covering his monobrow with a turban and his ankle tattoo with expensive running shoes), the Quagmires resolve to come to the aid of their new friends. Sadly, this proves to be a hideous mistake.

Snicket disarms us again with his playful juxtapositions--only he can compare bombs with strawberry shortcake (both are as dangerous to make as assumptions), muse on how babies adjust developmentally to the idea of curtains, or ponder why the Baudelaire orphans would not want to be stalks of celery despite their incessant bad luck as humans. We can't get enough of this splendid series of misadventures, and can only wager that swarms of young readers will be right next to us in line for the next installment. (Ages 9 and older) --Karin Snelson, Amazon.com.