<font color = lightgreen><font color = red>Belle</font> and I took TJ to see Lemony Snicket: A Series of Unfortunate Events last week. [img]graemlins/erm.gif[/img] This was a kid's story? The bad guy really is bad--he's an arsonist, a murderer, a con man, a child abuser/endangerer, and possibly a pedophile.

That being said, I did like the sets because they reminded me of Edward Gorey, whose drawings I adore. I thought it was a Tim Burton film, but it wasn't (I don't recall the director's name right now, though). Oh, well....</font>

I was thinking of going to see this, but wasnt sure as I have heard mixed reviews. Would you recommend it?

It was directed by Brad Silberling by the way


--Kestrel--

<font color = lightgreen>Recommend it? [img]graemlins/1ponder.gif[/img] I suppose so, for older children or young teenagers.</font>


<font color = lightgreen>Thank you. [img]graemlins/petard.gif[/img] </font>

Well, it's based on the books, obviously. Which are meant for young-type children; I think they are usually in the 9-12 age-group. Most kids who would go see the movie would have read the books so they'd be okay with the scariness of Count Olaf. He is scary though, at least in the books! But even though Lemony always goes on about how there's no happy ending, and if you want a book where everyone has a good laugh in the end these aren't the books for you, the orphans do actually always win in the end (even though people die) so I don't think they'd be too bad for younger kids.

I just recently read the first four - they are fabulous books. I personally found them a bit tedious after a while and don't think I'll be reading any more, but for kids they really seem fantastic. They are wonderful learning tools. They teach vocabulary, with the frequent '[big word\phrase], which here means [definition]', which is really useful, and they teach attention to grammar and spelling and punctuation, and one of the best things about them is that they encourage kids to read lots more books. The orphans always manage to defeat their enemies by being book-smart and by reading the books in whatever place they are at that time. So kids reading them learn that reading books is really valuable and they should do it a lot. The biggest problem for literacy is not reading enough. Kids that read regularly make so much more progress than kids who find reading hard or boring, so as they get older, the gap between good readers and poor readers just gets bigger and bigger.

<font color = lightgreen>Which is why <font color = red>Belle</font> and I never turn down TJ's requests for books. One of his favorite places to visit (back in the Dallas area) was Half Price Books. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] </font>