Lemony Snickett's The Wide Window & The Miserable Mill

 

If you have not read anything about the Baudelaire orphans, then before you read even one more sentence, you should know this: Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are kindhearted and quick-witted; but their lives, I am sorry to say, are filled with bad luck and misery. All of the stories about these three children are unhappy and wretched, and this one may be the worst of them all. If you haven't got the stomach for a story that includes a hurricane, a signalling device, hungry leeches, cold cucumber soup, a horrible villain, and a doll named Pretty Penny, then this book will probably fill you with despair. I will continue to record these tragic tales, for that is what I do. You, however, should decide for yourself whether you can possibly endure this miserable story. (Goodreads)

I hope, for your sake, that you have not chosen to read this book because you are in the mood for a pleasant experience. If this is the case, I advise you to put this book down instantaneously, because of all the books describing the unhappy lives of the Baudelaire orphans, The Miserable Mill might be the unhappiest yet. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are sent to Paltryville to work in a lumber mill, and they find disaster and misfortune lurking behind every log.

The pages of this book, I'm sorry to inform you, contain such unpleasantries as a giant pincher machine, a bad casserole, a man with a cloud of smoke where his head should be, a hypnotist, a terrible accident resulting in injury, and coupons.

I have promised to write down the entire history of these three poor children, but you haven't, so if you prefer stories that are more heartwarming, please feel free to make another selection. (Goodreads)

It's a children's story, about three children not having the time of their life. This is the third and fourth installment that I've read of this series and its premise is always the same. The children are brought to another foster home, where the caretaker is either malicious or oblivious and Count Olaf, their nemesis, seizes that opportunity to try and gain the custody of the children and with that the possession of their fortune. 

His plot is always thwarted in the end, due to the vigilance of the children, because the grownups in this series amount to very little. 

Fun thing, for children, is that difficult words tend to be explained fitting the circumstance. 

I didn't read these ones to my daughter, since she's a reading machine and easily devours thick books all on her own now and my son is still a bit too young for these, but they are light reading and I was a bit curious to see how they got on. They are a bit tedious in their repetition for me, but I can see the allure they would have on children.