Lemony Snicket: The Grim Grotto

If you are reading this because you want to find out about a happy, cheerful story to give to your children, then stop reading now! Lemony Snicket's books are the tales of three miserable orphans and the dreadful events that befall them.

Lemony Snicket made his depressing debut in New Zealand bookshops some five years ago. An Unfortunate Beginning, the first in "A Series of Unfortunate Events", introduced readers to the unlucky Baudelaire orphans and their evil guardian, Count Olaf.

The book delighted many and puzzled quite a few with its Gothic plot and ironic, stylised narrative. Some adults complained that the books were too gloomy for children. They were apparently oblivious to the comic element of the story and had managed to miss the caution on the back of the book: I'm sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant. It tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children ...

Lemony Snicket is the pseudonym of author Daniel Handler. Handler maintains Lemony Snicket as a completely separate persona, claiming that he is only the representative of the reclusive (and elusive) Snicket. Handler had already published two (strictly adults-only) novels when an editor encouraged him to try writing a children's book. He was unimpressed at first, but was tempted by the thought of writing something that would upset conventional ideas of what to expect in a children's book.

A fan of Gothic melodrama, Handler used many of the traditional devices of the genre in his first instalment of "A Series of Unfortunate Events". The three Baudelaire children are tragically orphaned and are cast from one appalling crisis to another as Count Olaf, a "greedy and repulsive villain", tries to get his hands on their immense fortune. Each subsequent instalment in the series introduces the three plucky but ill-fated children to yet more horrors, including parsley soda, coupons and a large brass reading lamp.

The latest instalment in the series is The Grim Grotto. The 11th in the series of 13, the Buadelaire children are this time exposed to some moist misadventures. Lemony Snicket provides his usual dark warning on the back cover:

"Dear Reader,

Unless you are a slug, a sea anemone, or mildew, you probably prefer not to be damp. You might also prefer not to read this book, in which the Baudelaire siblings encounter an unpleasant amount of dampness as they descend into the depths of despair, underwater.

In fact, the horrors they encounter are too numerous to list, and you wouldn't want me even to mention the worst of it, which includes mushrooms, a desperate search for something lost, a mechanical monster, a distressing message from a lost friend, and tap dancing ... "

Violet, Klaus and Sunny find themselves on a rusty old submarine, in pursuit of a special sugar bowl. Their companions are Captain Widdershins, his daughter Fiona and an old acquaint-ance, Phil from Lucky Smells Lumbermill. The children need to get to the sugar bowl before Count Olaf, but the perils they encounter are so dreadful the author has inserted boring facts about water to discourage readers from proceeding any further.

However, Lemony Snicket's books are addictive, and not even a lecture on evaporation, precipitation and, most tedious of all, collection, will dissuade readers from this underwater adventure.

The Grim Grotto (A Series of Unfortunate Events #11)

Publisher: HarperCollins

Price: $24.99

Age: 8-14 yrs

Recommended by: Jenni Keestra