Lemony Snicket
Lemony Snicket is the pseudonym novelist Daniel Handler used while writing his sequence of darkly comic children's books known as A Series of Unfortunate Events. The 13 novels in the series relate the hard-luck history of the Baudelaire orphans, Violet, Klaus and Sunny. Snicket narrates their piteous adventures and misfortunes at the hands of evil Count Olaf, a master of disguises and truly bad actor.
Handler is a longtime resident of San Francisco, and his style has been compared to Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. He also has published novels for older teens and adults, including The Basic Eight (1999) and Watch Your Mouth (2000). Handler has said that the name 'Lemony Snicket' is not intended to be a tribute to the cartoon character Jiminy Crickett; Handler claims the pseudonym was made up on the spur of the moment while researching material for one of his other books, and that the name predates A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Books
The Dark
Author: Lemony Snicket
Illustrator: Jon Klassen
Publisher: Orchard Book
Interest age: 3+
Reading age: 6+
One night, the night-light goes out, and the dark calls Laszlo down into the basement to meet it.
The Series of Unfortunate Events: Austere Academy
Author: Lemony Snicket
Illustrator: Brett Helquist
Publisher: Egmont Books
Interest age: 9+
Reading age: 9+
The unfortunate Baudelaire children have been enrolled into Prufrock Preparatory School under the safe keeping of Vice Principal Nero and his advanced computer
The Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning
Author: Lemony Snicket
Illustrator: Brett Helquist
Publisher: Egmont Books
Interest age: 9+
Reading age: 9+
The Bad Beginning is the first of 13 volumes in the appropriately named collection, A Series of Unfortunate Events.
The Series of Unfortunate Events: The End
Author: Lemony Snicket Illustrator: Brett Helquist
Publisher: Egmont
Interest age: 9+
Reading age: 9+
You'll not enjoy this final instalment of the Baudelaire's story; like peeling an onion, the distressing layers keep coming.
Who Could that be at This Hour? All the Wrong Questions
Author: Lemony Snicket
Illustrator: Seth
Publisher: Egmont
Interest age: 9+
Reading age: 9+
The first in a quartet of volumes of Lemony Snickett's highly unlikely account of his childhood and apprenticeship to a top secret organisation.