The Austere Academy

Lemony Snicket can do no wrong. As depressing and gloomy as the story lines may be, Snicket has an entertaining and dry (humor) style that makes for an interesting read. I read most of the books in this series in middle school and still enjoy them as a 23-year-old graduate student. In this book, in particular, I love the elements of absurdity incorporated into the Baudelaire's “prism of experience” at the boarding school. Sunny, a baby, is forced to serve as secretary to the vice-principal. The three children are provided with abysmal housing in the form of the orphan shack, infested with tan fungus and toe-biting crabs. Onto #6!