Series of Unfortunate Events: The Ersatz Elevator

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Ersatz Elevator by: Lemony Snicket
Illustrator: Brett Helquist
Copyright: 2001
Pages: 259
Reading Level: 8-12

" if you were to skip the parts about being 'nervous' and 'anxious' you would be skipping the most pleasant parts of the entire story" - Lemony Snicket

The 6th tale of the Baudelaire Children finds them going to live at another address this time with Jerome and Esme Squalor. Esme works with a man named Gunther, who the Baudelaire's immediately recognize as the antagonist of the story, the notorious Count Olaf, despite his disguise. Jerome and Esme dismiss their protests against "Gunther" to much frustrations.
While left alone one day the children discover that the elevator is fake. Climbing down the elevator shaft they discover their old friends the Quagmire triplets trapped in a cage at the bottom by Count Olaf, who plans to sell them at an auction. Olaf takes the triplets away before the Baudelaire's can rescue them.
They try to tell Esme about Count Olaf and the Quagmire triplets, but it turns out that Esme is working with count Olaf and she pushes them down the elevator shaft into a net. the Baudelaire's manage to escape out of the elevator shaft through a trap door at the bottom and end up in the burnt remains of their old mansion.
They rush to the auction and attempt to buy the Quagmire triplets, but instead bid on a chest of doilies by accident. Esme and Count Olaf are revealed to be evil and sadly are able to escape the angry crowd. Jerome, who's still a nice man, wants to keep the Baudelaire's, but they leave to rescue the Quagmire's. The story ends there, to be continued in the next book.

Recommended to: Children ages 7-12, the story is fairly complicated and the writing a little advanced
Problems: It tends to be somewhat depressing, nothing very good ever happens to them
Reaction: I love the way Lemony Snicket writes, it's interesting, witty and creative. His tone is sarcastic and simultaneously sincere. He really draws you in and makes you love and care about the welfare of the characters, making the story that much harder to read because of the excess of unfortunate events.