Ellyn Boland

Dear Lemony Snicket,

Before I read The Series of Unfortunate Events I would have said it would be cool to live with a different family. Then I read your series, and it made me think about how much I would miss them, like the Baudelaires missed their parents after they died. It also made me value my family more because they aren't going to be around forever. So now I won't be mad if we spend family time together instead of each of us doing our own things. I will also appreciate the things my parents do for me, because I would have a very hard time doing them on my own like the Bauldelairs had to when they lived with Count Olaf.

While reading your books, I had many feelings other than appreciation. I felt courageous because if the Bauldelairs can do amazing things, then I can too. I also felt fearful that something resembling what happened in the book would happen in my life. I was afraid of what would happen if my parents would die when I'm still a kid.

When reading your series, I thought about the resemblance between the books and my life. I know someone who is like Aunt Josephine. He is afraid of himself or his family getting hurt, so he won't let his children have some of the opportunities I have. Also, I have stayed with someone I didn't want to stay with, just like the Baudelaires didn't want to stay with Count Olaf.

A difference in my life is my parents are still alive and I don't have to be on the lookout for a bad person like the Baudelaire children. In addition, I have never known of a town that had a rule that you can't have books like V.F.D, a town that Klaus, Sunny, and Violet lived in.

Of all the feelings and thoughts I felt while reading your services, I think that the feeling of appreciation is the strongest. I will think about your series every time I don't value my family as much as I should. Also, next time I think it would be fun to live with a different family, I will think twice and imagine how much I would miss my own.

Your reader,
Ellyn Boland, Grade 5