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Lemony Snicket – An Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the First
Introduction
We are generally used to reading books with happy endings in which good overcomes evil. We find this satisfying because most of us prefer justice to injustice. (How often have you said, ‘It’s not fair’?)
In the thirteen books that comprise ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ this generality is turned on its head. However, the books have been very popular and many people have read all of them. Will you become one of those people? If so, why? If not, why not?
Why can books in which everyone is miserable and the bad people appear to triumph be so popular?
The task ahead will help you to answer these questions!
Task
You will analyse the book, ‘Book the First – The Bad Beginning’ by Lemony Snicket. You will look at the shape of the story, the characters and events;
and decide why you think these books have been so popular. After completing the tasks ahead, your final activity (yes, very final – even after the Wickedly Whimsical Dreadful Dictionary, will be to add two final slides to your Power Point presentation to describe the secret for success of these books. Asd you read more you will start to recognise a range of such recipes and, who knows, one day you might follow one of these recipes and write your own best seller!
Process
- After reading the novel, 'A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the First: The Bad Beginning, by Lemony Snicker, you will design and present a PowerPoint presentation of the story elements. The slides should be as follows:
· A title slide—title and author of book, their name, and at least one picture copied from the Lemony Snicket web site.
· Several character slides listing the main characters and some important facts about each one, and at least one picture.
· A problem slide describing the major problem(s) faced by the characters, and at least one picture.
· A solution slide describing the solution(s) to the problem, and at least one picture.
· A summary slide giving a summary of the story, and at least one picture.
· A brief review of the book saying what sort of people will like and dislike it.
You will work on your power point presentation during Study Club each week.
- Each week at home you will choose three activities from the Website Activities from www.lemonysnicket.com/games and complete a review sheet for these.
- Examples of literary allusions from "A Series of Unfortunate Events" - On an ongoing basis as you read you should find interesting words in the book that are new to you and, in the style of the narrator, provide synonyms. Try to find five words each week.
- Choose a character from the book and write that person’s diary as you read the book.
- You should complete one of the following tasks each week:
a) Often, the Baudelaires end up doing adult work like keeping house for Count Olaf or working at the sawmill. Children used to do such work. Research the history of child labour. When and where did laws come into place limiting children working? Why? Does child labor still exist in some places in the world?
b) The Baudelaires learn to cook puttanesca sauce in the first book. See if you can,find a recipe. You could try it out, and report how it went. See if you can find a cookbook for children, and tell about it.
c) Setting is very important in these stories. Describe the setting of one of the books. How would the story be different if the setting had been different? How does the setting contribute to the events in the orphans' lives?
d) There is a good deal of irony in these books. Define irony, and give two or three examples from the books.
e) A reader can find a number of literary allusions in these books. What is an allusion? Give three or four examples.
f) There is a good deal of satire in the series, also. Define satire, and give two or three examples from the stories. Where else might you run into satire besides in a book? Give an example.
g) Count Olaf is really, really bad. Do you find him and his henchman frightening, too? Why or why not?
h) In what ways is the world created by Handler not like the "real world"?
i) Describe the character of the narrator. Include his attitude to you, as a reader, and to the Baudelaire orphans and Count Olaf.
Your final task will be to create a Dreadful Dictionary of Wickedly Whimsical Words
Resources
http://www.quidditch.com/lemony%20snicket.htm
http://www.kidsreads.com/series/series-lemony-snicket-author.asp
http://dir.salon.com/story/mwt/feature/2000/08/17/snicket/index.html
http://www.teachingbooks.net/athr_upcls.cgi
http://www.answers.com
www.rif.org
PowerPoint Resources
http://www.actden.com/pp/
http://www.electricteacher.com/tutorial3.htm
http://www.fgcu.edu/support/office2000/ppt/
http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/assistance/CH790018081033.aspx
Conclusion
Will you read any more of the books? Why?
What other series have you read, or started and not finished? Think about your reasons.
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