The Wide Window (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 3) (original 2000; edition 2000)

This is a rather sad story so if you are looking for something to cheer you up do not read this story! I would however highly recommend this book to horror story readers and people who are maybe a little bit to happy. This is in fact one of the best books I have ever read, Even though it is sad, you just can't stop reading it. This book is age appropriate for ages nine through fourteen. I highly recommend this, and all the other books in this series. I love how the author jumps in and tells about his life, and his lost love Beatrice. Lemony Snicket does a wonderful job in writing and I look forward to reading many more of his books. ( )

Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, continues to come up with new ways of doing the same things. ( )

Since this is only the third book in the series nothing super dramatic or surprising happens. But on the other hand I was very intrigued with the Baudelaire's new home and the women living in it. ( )

http://booknutreview.blogspot.com/2011/01/wide-window-lemony-snicket.html ( )

Book two in this series left me with high expectation that this book did not fulfill. While it was a fun, fast read, I missed much of the humor that I'd enjoyed in the previous books. I appreciated the lesson in this book and the characters were fun but on the whole, I felt let down. That said, I start the fourth book soon and expect great things.
More on http://commacents.blogspot.com/ ( )

This is the third book in the series of "Series of Unfortunate Events." In the book the three children are sent to another relatives house, and the lady that they stay with is scared of everything. This makes for an interesting adventure. I recommend this book to children who like the series. ( )

Kolmannessa osassa alan olla jo tottunut kirjailijan tyyliin ja jollain tasolla pidänkin siitä. Olisin aloittanut mieluusti neljännen osan heti perään, mutta valitettavasti minun täytyy tehdä reissu kirjastoon saadakseni sen käsiini.

Elokuva, jonka katsoin ennen näiden kirjojen lukemisen aloittamista, kattaa käytännössä kolme ensimmäistä kirjaa. Keskeisimmät tapahtumat on saatu hyvin mukaan, vaikka paljon onkin jouduttu muuttamaan. Seuraavasta osasta alkaen tapahtumat ovatkin ennestään tuntemattomia ja pääsee paremmmin sanomaan, kuinka häiritsevä on kirjailijan tapa kertoa juonipaljastuksia.

Tästä osasta pidin kuitenkin. ( )

The book is bout these three kids that keep on getting sent to different houses because there parnets died and left them with all there money and a man wants there money so he trying to kill all the kids so he can have the money for himself. Does he kill them? I gave the book a 10 becauseit jeep you wondering what is going to happen next. the book also has a loook of suspense in it.
Hayley ( )

This is the third book in A Series of Unfortunate Events, wherein the Baudelaire orphans have been sent to live with their fearful (meaning afraid of everything) Aunt Josephine in her house precariously perched atop a cliff overlooking Lake Lachrymosa (home to the Lachrymosa leeches, a nasy species which devours anything that has eaten in the past hour).

I'm still liking the series, much to my surprise! Have just started on book four.... ( )

I am currently reading the Series of Unfortunate Events to my five-year-old daughter. Admittedly, she is a lot younger than the target audience of this book but I read the first five books in the series myself first in order to make an informed decision about whether they were appropriate or not. They have been a big hit. This book was enjoyed just as much as the previous three books. In fact, with this one, the younger brother (3 years old) even started to interject during the book too (in his own words "Count Olaf is funny and very silly!"). Both kids adore the way that it is always really obvious to everybody, except Mr Poe, that the new character introduced in each book is the bad guy Count Olaf and every time Mr Poe fails to see it they both jump up and down screaming "but it's Count Olaf!!!" (complete, in the five year old's case, with repeated slapping of forehead in absolute disbelief). The kids loved the character of Aunt Josephine and the older one guffawed every time they mentioned something else she was afraid of (her particular favorite being the fear of realtors and having her hair in her face). I really liked the fact that even Count Olaf's name was obviously fake in this book (Captain Sham) and this added yet another new word to the kids' vocabulary (something these books have been doing a lot!)

One of the things that has amazed me about these books is that my daughter often has a problem with books which contain scary baddies and have bad things happening. However, the author always makes sure that you know well in advance when somebody's going to be killed or something bad is going to happen. This manages to get her used to the fact at least a couple of chapters before it happens and it doesn't seem to bother her at all (she's generally too busy laughing to take much notice). Book 4, here we come... ( )

Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

Those poor Baudelaire orphans. After the death of their beloved Uncle Monty, the third installment of Lemony Snicket's tale has Violet, Klaus, and Sunny heading toward the home of yet another new guardian. Left by Mr. Poe at Damocles Dock at the edge of Lake Lachrymose for the taxi that will take them to the home of Josephine Anwhistle, the orphans must once again wonder about what fate holds in store for them. Will the gramatically correct dowager be kind like Uncle Morty, or retched like Count Olaf?

It turns out that Aunt Josephine is a mixture of the two. Although she welcomes them into her home, the woman is so terrified by everything--the stove, glass doorknobs, radiators, and even realtors--that the children are hard pressed to enjoy their dinners of cold cucumber soup and their presents of a baby doll, train set, and rattle. Living high above the Lake that is full of the leeches that devoured Josephine's husband, Ike, the three Baudelaire children have a hard time convincing their Aunt to even leave the house.

On a trip to the market, however, who should appear once again with yet another despicable plan to steal the Baudelaire fortune but Count Olaf--this time in the disguise of Captain Sham, a man with an eye patch and peg leg who has opened a boating company of his own. Josephine, of course, is at once enamored of the dashing Captain, and Mr. Poe, as always, is not convinced by the children's claim that Captain Sham and Count Olaf are one and the same. What follows is another does of typical Baudelaire fair--diabolical plans, a terrible hurricane named Herman, a bizarre restaurant named the Anxious Clown, a boat ride across a leech-filled lake, a rescue at Curdled Cave, and another meet-up with Count Olaf's nasty associates.

THE WIDE WINDOW is another winning story in the tales of the Baudelaire orphans. The story took me about an hour and a half to read, and is suitable for children around ages 9 and up. Again, however, you'll need to base your decision of its suitability based on the maturity of your children, as this book is just as dark as the first two. ( )

Its about the siblings aunt

The third book in "A Series of Unfortunate Events" is the best so far. The plotting is better than the previous two books (particularly the first), and there is some genuinely exciting scenes. It is probably the most cinematic of the books, or at least the one that would make the best movie. It still has all the charm and absurdity of the first novels, including this gem from near the end of the book (not a spoiler): "But even if they could go home it would be difficult for me to tell you what the moral of the story is. In some stories, it's easy. The moral of 'The Three Bears,' for instance, is 'Never break into someone else's house.' The moral of 'Snow White' is 'Never eat apples.' The moral of World War One is 'Never assassinate Archduke Ferdinand.'" With prose like that, how could I stop reading? I look forward to tackling book 4 soon! ( )

Unfortunate events led me to read this book in the series out of order (having previously read 1, 2, and 7 through 9). No matter-- it was as entertaining as ever, and in fact, probably the most gripping "children's book" I've ever read. The hungry leeches of Lacrhymose Lake are enough to give a reader nightmares, and poor Aunt Josephine -- well, let's just say her fate is best not to dwell upon.

I continue to be amazed at Mr Snickett's boundless imagination and incredible wit. I regret not having this series of books when I was 12; but for a second childhood, there's nothing that compares. ( )

The Wide Window is the third installment in the woeful tale of the Baudelaire orphans, and I found it quite fun. In this chapter, the children are sent to live with their "aunt" Josephine, who lives in a rickety house hanging over the edge of Lake Lachrymose. Aunt Josephine is terrified of everything. She won't prepare hot food because that entails turning on the stove. She won't answer the phone because it might electrocute her. She doesn't touch doorknobs because they might explode and send fragments flying everywhere. It's humorous, but it has bad implications for the Baudelaires. Aunt Josephine is terrified of pretty much everything — but when a certain Count shows up in disguise, she isn't afraid of him in the least.

The adults are amazingly thick once more. Mr. Poe seems to be improving very, very slightly, but he's still fine with handing the children over to the nefarious disguised Olaf. Again the children are quick-thinking and intelligent without becoming bores. I found Aunt Josephine's love for grammar quite amusing. Grammar is the joy of life, is it not? As a grammar gammer myself, I thoroughly enjoyed how grammar became a huge clue in the action. We can't start kids too young on this stuff :-P

Snicket makes an acute observation when he notes that people whose gender is hard to determine are especially creepy. But I don't agree that a fear of realtors is irrational! Snicket says that the worst they can do is show you an ugly house and occasionally wear very ugly yellow jackets. I disagree; a realtor can be very intimidating. I'm always frightened that they will take advantage of me somehow. No, I'm definitely with Aunt Josephine in her horror of realtors!

Overall, this is another worthy chapter in the saga. I'm looking forward to the next one. ( )

'The Wide Window' is the continuing story of the Baudelaire orphans who go to live with their Aunt Josephine, who is not in fact their aunt. Aunt Josephine is afraid of everything, from doorknobs to stoves. She won't sell her rickety old house, which is perched on the edge of a cliff over man-eating leach-filled Lake Lachrymose, because she is scared to death of realtors. Count Olaf appears disguised as the weathered sailor Captain Sham. This book is very interesting and leaves the reader desperate to know what happens next.
'The Wide Window' is book three in a series of 13 books. Ages 9 and up. Reviewed by Lydia Twombly-Hussey.

Who is Count Olaf? This time he is Captain Sham, who, strangely doesn't frighten the Baudelaires new guardian, Aunt Josephine, who is frightened of everything else. The darkness deepens, fantastic. ( )

I've already expressed my dissatisfaction with Lemony Snicket as audio book narrator, but the book itself was fine. They're getting a little formulaic, but you have to learn to lower your expectations when you're reading books meant for children. And even I learned something from the little grammar, vocabulary, and history tidbits woven into the story. ( )

This is the 3rd book in the Series of Unfortunate Events. Once again the Baudelaire children are on the move. They are moving in with a new relative, 'Aunt Josephine'. The children learn pretty quick that Aunt Josephine has a few quirks and problems. Namely, she is afraid of almost everything. And as such puts out many rules of things to do and not do that make their stay less than ideal. Things were going along bearably well until Aunt Josephine met Captain Sham, and things went from bad to worse. Can the children get themselves out of the smörgåsbord of trouble that comes at them? Smörgåsbord here meaning a long and varied list of bad things happening.

This continues the tales of the Baudelaire children as they continue to be pushed around by grownups who never quite seem to know what is the best thing for kids but always believe they do. ( )

The third in a series, this episode has the Baudelaire orphans on another adventure when their new guardian fakes her death and they have to find her before Count Olaf gets them. The children don't seem to have grown or changed much from the previous book, though they are learning that Mr. Poe doesn't listen to them when they tell him someone is Count Olaf in disguise. The setting is made up to the point that a hurricane occurs on a lake, making the story not very believable. The theme is more clearly stated at this end of this book, when the author says that the children appreciate being able to have each other to turn to in all the hard times they face. The situations they get into continue to get more ridiculous as the series progresses, but I'm sure children would find it entertaining, so I would include this in my collection. ( )

I wanted to read this after gleefully enjoying the first two books of the series a while back. To my delight, I found there was much more substance than I remembered. The explanations of vocabulary in context, the translations of baby Sunny's one-word utterances and the plays on words are fun. The chatty tone of Lemony Snicket, the narrator, urging readers not to go on produces (of course!) the opposite effect and a sense of immediacy.

Then there are the whimsical characters: the courageous Baudelaire siblings, their ultra-timid Aunt Josephine and their well-meaning but impotent custodian, Mr Banks. In this third installment, the evil Count Olaf isn't very evil at all. He menaces from a distance. It's only then that you realise the genius of the writing. Olaf doesn't do anything particularly evil (at least not until the climax) but we fear him because the children do and we are, as they are, frustrated because of the adults falling for his disguise "hook, line and sinker".

The most beautiful thing in this book is the setup of the plot. Every odd detail introduced comes back to play a vital role in the denouement and produces some very unpredictable twists, for example, Aunt Josephine's fear of realtors and the grammatical error on Sham's business card. No thread is left untied except that of the fate of the three children, which means I can happily anticipate reading the next installment.

( )

One of the funniest things I've ever read: "If you are allergic to a thing, it is best not to put that thing in your mouth, especially if the thing is cats. "

Another satisfying tale. ( )

The best and most adventurous of these stories yet. I also figured out in a dream that Klaus and Sunny are named after the infamous Von Bulows. Susan read this book too, and enjoyed it without reading any of its predecessors. I like the house built perilously on a cliff, a nice creepy touch. ( )

Interesting book- read it because all of my year 4s love them and I wanted to see what the fuss was about. ( )