The Carnivorous Carnival
by Lemony Snicket

HarperCollins Publishers, 286 pp., $11.99
ISBN 0-06-441012-9

This book follows the Baudelaire orphans on their unfortunate lives in the 9th book of the Series of Unfortunate Events.

Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire have escaped the fire at the Heimlich Hospital, and that is how The Carnivorous Carnival begins.  They are smuggling themselves away, with no idea where they are going, in the trunk of their nemesis-Count Olaf (the man trying to get their fortune).Then they arrive at Madame Lulu’s Caligari Carnival. Violet and Klaus masquerade as Beverly and Elliot, the two headed person and, Sunny as Chabo the wolf baby and apply to be part of The House of Freaks.  Madame Lulu finds them very amusing and hires them. Meanwhile, Count Olaf and his troupe are scheming to gain the Baudelaire’s fortune.  Violet is an inventor and helps them escape from Olaf once again, Klaus uses his plethora of knowledge to help Madame Lulu and Sunny adds cinnamon to hot chocolate, and surprises Violet, Klaus and the rest of the “freaks”. One of Olaf’s endeavors is to have a lion pit show in which he forces people to walk of a plank into a trench of ravenous lions that haven’t eaten in weeks. You will really want to keep reading to find out what happens at the lion pit.

Lemony Snicket displays Violet, Klaus and Sunny’s luck as well as extreme misfortune.   There is action when they are running away, and as they try to hide from Olaf and the pit of the lion show. There is friendship between the siblings and the “real” freaks even when they are betraying them.  The book is told by Snicket as if you are sitting right there, and he is telling the story to you with photographs of the setting. It is in a conversational tone from Snicket, and it is kind of like he is talking to his computer while writing. 

The book uses really good vocabulary and he explains what the words mean in that case. That really helps you learn more words, and I enjoyed that.  For example, instead of saying snotty, Snicket uses the word haughtily or instead of symbol, he uses insignia.   It really helps to have good vocabulary because then it gets old hearing the same word over and over again, so Snicket did a good job in not boring me.

I really enjoyed the Carnivorous Carnival. Snicket portrays the feelings of everyone in the book and it really paints a picture in your mind. It was one of my favorite books of the whole Series of Unfortunate Events.   I would recommend it to anyone in the range of ages 9-12 because little kids wouldn’t understand the vocabulary but it is easy enough for a 9 year old to read. An older person wouldn’t really like it because it is a little bit young for any older person. 

~ reviewed by Clio