Lemony Snicket: terribly terrific ideas to follow the frightful Series of Unfortunate Events - Meet the Author - classroom activities

Instructor, Oct, 2002 by Darcy Lockman

The Awful Truth

Lemony Snicket is not what he purports to be. The elusive author claims to have originated in a part of the country which is now under water, to have done his training chiefly in rhetorical analysis, and to be researching now the travails of the Baudelaires (www.lemonysnicket.com). In reality, Snicket is none other than Daniel Handler, a writer known in his own right for his adult chapter books. Discuss with students why they think an author might use a pen name.

APPALLING ACTIVITIES

The Happy Ending

Lemony Snicket warns his readers that the Baudelaires will face one disaster after another. After reading the books with your students, have them write their own one-page happy ending to the series, first discussing what differentiates a happy ending from an unhappy one. Can they think of books with happy endings? When they've finished, have each student read his or her story aloud to the class. Are there different ideas of happy endings?

Meet the Baudelaires

How much information does Mr. Snicket provide about his hero and heroines? Have your students choose a character and write down everything known about him or her, drawing an illustration of that character as well. Then have them write about an adventure that this character might have experienced on his or her own.

Location! Location! Location!

The series uses pronouncedly different backdrops for each of its tales: a mill, a boarding school, a hospital. Ask students to discuss the properties of a good setting and make a list. How is the setting tied into each story? Then ask students to think of a location that has not yet been used. Have them write a letter to Mr. Snicket about the place they've chosen. They should describe in detail how it would lend itself to a scintillating story.

It Takes a Villain

After encountering Count Olaf and his cadre of goons, begin a discussion of characteristics of these villains; broaden it to include characteristics of other villains the students have encountered in literature. What do they have in common? What distinguishes Olaf from other literary bad guys? Have students write a story about what might happen if they were to encounter Count Olaf. What would they say to him? How might he react?

Dramatic Possibilities

Read the excerpt from The Hostile Hospital, page 52, aloud to your students. Put them in small groups, and have each group turn the excerpt into a short play. When the students finish, give each group the chance to perform their work for the class. Discuss what each group has done differently, and how there can be differences in spite of the fact that everyone is working from the same text.

RELATED ARTICLE: The Series At-a-Glance

* The Bad Beginning The orphaned Baudelaires are sent to distant relative Count Olaf, who treats them miserably as he plots to steal their fortune.

* The Reptile Room The orphans are put in the care of their kindly Uncle Monty, whose plan to take them to Peru is thwarted by Olaf in disguise.

* The Wide Window After moving in with cowardly Aunt Josephine, the siblings must use her passion for grammar to fight a familiar enemy.

* The Miserable Mill When the children are sent to live in a spooky lumber mill near a strange eye clinic, Klaus must be saved after he's hypnotized by Olaf.

* The Austere Academy Off to boarding school, where the siblings befriend the two remaining Quagmire triplets and try to figure out why Olaf is teaching gym.

* The Ersatz Elevator Adopted by a wealthy couple after orphans are deemed trendy, the siblings find another nemesis.

* The Vile Village The children are adopted by an entire village--where breaking any of the bazillion rules will get you burned at the stake.

* The Hostile Hospital Wanted for a murder they didn't commit, the siblings must solve the mystery of the V.F.D. before Olaf catches them.

* The Carnivorous Carnival Book the Ninth is due to be released on October 29, 2002. It is so ghastly that the contents cannot be revealed!

All books in A Series of Unfortunate Events are published by HarperCollins between 1999 and 2002.