Review: The Wide Window

The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Full of clever word-play and repeating themes and jokes, the Wide Window is an entertaining book that could sneakily help younger readers learn vocabulary and turns of phrase. Though some of the words used in this book may seem a bit advanced, the narrator kindly takes the time to explain them in the text so that no external dictionary is necessary. For example: "Violet was kicking the creature from behind, and Sunny was biting its wrist, but the person was so Brobdingnagian-- a word which here means 'unbelievably husky'-- that the children were causing it minimal pain, a phrase which here means 'no pain at all.'" In this book, the third in the Series of Unfortunate Events, the three Baudelaire orphans are sent to live with their Aunt Josephine, a grammar-loving woman who is scared of stoves, realtors, telephones, doorknobs, and many other innocuous objects. The villainous Count Olaf, masquerading as Captain Sham, is out to get the children (and their family estate) again, and none of the grown-ups will believe the children when they try to expose his nefarious scheme. Will they manage to escape his clutches again? Recommended for grades 5 and up.



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