Concerning & Potentially Concerning Content

The biggest concern here is the very real threats made on the children’s life by the main villain, Count Olaf, and his wicked troupe. Olaf and crew are not in any way afraid to threaten to take a life to promote their villainy. Similar to how many adults today would consider Cruella Deville one of the scarier villains from their childhood, it is Count Olaf’s ‘realness’ that makes him fear-inspiring. Unlike many villains of fantasy, he is someone you can picture meeting in real life in this world broken by sin. At one point the baby is ‘snatched up’ by the villain, upon reacting to this, Clause is struck in the face. This terrible crew also gets drunk. It is also important to know that the book starts out and revolves around the tragic death of the children’s parents in a house fire, two topics that could easily trigger real fears in even stronger children. The children being very poorly taken of by incompetent adults for the rest of the story may have a similar effect on some who find themselves in real-life unfortunate circumstances. One of the more disappointing items of concern, when things get to their worst, sadly, one of the main characters wishes she had bought poison to put into Count Olaf’s soup as an escape to what feels like an impossible and life-threatening situation. One final note, one of Count Olaf’s helpers is described as someone who looks 'neither like a man or a woman'.