For my Fantasy/Science Fiction book review, I chose the first book in the Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events book series. This book (and series) is about the three Baudelaire children (Violet, 14, Klaus 12, and Sonny, infant). The book starts out with the children at the beach. Then a man named Mr. Poe comes up to them and tells them that their parents have died in a horrible fire that destroyed their entire mansion. So the three children go to stay with Mr.Poe and his family until Mr. Poe can find a relative that the children can go live with because it was in their parent's will. Finally, Mr. Poe finds a relative named Count Olaf. He takes the children to live with Count Olaf who is a very mean and disgusting man. He makes the children do very hard chores and even has them make dinner for Count Olaf and his theater troupe. Count Olaf hits Klaus one night and the next day the three children go to the bank where Mr. Poe works to tell him that Count Olaf is a horrible man. Mr. Poe informs the children that now that Count Olaf is now their legal gardian, he can parent them any way he pleases and does nothing to help the children. Mr. Poe calles Count Olaf and tells him that the children came to his office, and Count Olaf tell the children that he wants them to be in his next play. Come to find out that the play is actually a scheme that Count Olaf has come up with to marry Violet so he can be in control of the Baudelaire fortune that the children's parents left to them (the children cannot have an of the fortune until Violet is of age). However, the children discover Count Olaf's plan and stop it from happening. Mr. Poe was attending the play and witnessed the whole scheme. He then tells Count Olaf that he is under arrest, but one of the members of Count Olaf's theater troupe turns out the light so they can get away. So then the Baudelaire's go back to live with the Poe's until he can find another relative for them to live with.

I think that the general age range is intermediate. The vocabulary is very advanced; however, the author explains most of the words throughout the book. Also, the events that the children experience can be nervewrecking and frightning to young children.

The artistic elements in this book are very neat. All of the pictures in this book are in black and white and look as if they were sketched. The pictures are very complex, and are made with many details. However, since this is a chapter book there are not as many pictures as there would be in a picture book.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes challenging and thrilling books. This book would be a great book for a fourth or fifth grader to do for a book report. I read some of these books when I was younger and highly enjoyed reading them. Each book in the series brings new adventures and new thrills.