The Bad Beginning, A Multi-Voice Recording: A Series of Unfortunate Events

The Bad Beginning, A Multi-Voice Recording: A Series of Unfortunate Events

The Bad Beginning, A Multi-Voice Recording: A Series of Unfortunate Events

• Audible Audio Edition
• Listening Length: 2 hours and 31 minutes
• Program Type: Audiobook
• Version: Unabridged
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Audible.com Release Date: November 10, 2004
• Whispersync for Voice: Ready
• Language: English
• I went back and forth about whether I should get this book to read with my 7 year old second grader. I kept telling myself I should wait till she was older, but found the book at a good price, so I bought it. I worried it would be too depressing and scary for her, but it did not turn out that way at all. The book is written from a narrators point of view, so the personal feelings of the characters are never fully exposed and explored. You know that the three orphans are sad about their parents death, but the book doesn't wallow in their grief and make it painful to read. If you can imagine Vincent Price reading the book, that tends to make it a little more lighthearted. The bad guy of the book, Count Olaf, is an awful brute who is outright cruel to the children at times, but again the book doesn't have the children suffering without end. Instead it makes them more resilient to foil the Counts plans and triumph over him. My daughter was EAGER to read these books. That was the best thing about it all. We have tried classics, Pippi Longstocking, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Charlottes Web, but as great as they are, they lack The Bad Beginnings level of excitement, mystery and wondering what will happen next. I enjoyed the book myself and will continue to read the rest of the series, in hopes they are as entertaining as this one. I can see if you have a very sensitive child, this would not be the book for them until they are older. Some kids my daughters age are scared of Harry Potter movies, so this book would be too much for them. If your youngster isn't living in a sheltered world where everything is wonderful and bad things don't happen, and they can understand the difference between a made up story and a real one, then they just might enjoy this new type of childrens adventure stories. 
  

The Bad Beginning, A Multi-Voice Recording: A Series of Unfortunate Events