A Series of Unfortunate Events #5: The Austere Academy

by Lemony Snicket

Book Overview

NOW A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES

As the three Baudelaire orphans warily approach their new home Prufrock Preparatory School, they can't help but notice the enormous stone arch bearing the school's motto Memento Mori or "Remember you will die."

This is not a cheerful greeting and certainly marks an inauspicious beginning to a very bleak story just as we have come to expect from Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0064408639
• ISBN13: 9780064408639
• Release Date: August 2000
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.1" x 6.9"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Interesting!

The novel of a series of unfortunate events is about three orphans going through painful experiences, having an enemy frequently returning into their lives, trying to get his hands on their big fortune. In the fifth installment of this series, the orphans go into a boarding school, in which there are unfair rules and unfair treatments. But as usual evil Count Olaf comes back to torture them. Finally in this installment they actually find friends who can help them. But as usual there are always unfortunate events. It is a great novel to be read by 10-15 year old students. I felt sorry for the way the orphans were treated. But I'm hoping to read the rest of the series, just because of how interesting the novel is. I rate this book a B+, and 4 stars.

Best So Far In Series

I have to admit as much as I've enjoyed these books, by the fourth I was getting a little bored. The structure would stay the same, the victims names would just change. I was so glad then to find the fifth book expanding and bringing in new characters who look like they could be around in future books. Mr Poe packs Violet, Klaus , and Sunny off to a horrible boarding school that has ridiculous rules. Of course you wait to see when the evil Count Olaf will rear his head, but the distraction in the book comes from the addition of two children the same age as Violet and Klaus who become their friends. It gives the series new places to go and breaks the normal story outlines. It's also the longest so far but for me it read the fastest. If you've liked the other books in the series you can be sure you'll like this one as well.

Oh oh oh! I am frightened of Count Olaf!

I have read all the Series of Unfortunate Events books. They are all very good! But I am scared of Count Olaf. He always creeps up and tries to kidnap the Baudelaire orphans, and no one believes them when they say he is in disguise, so they have to stop him themselves. I am glad the Baudelaire orphans are so resourceful and brave, because I would be *very* frightened of Count Olaf. Oh oh oh! Isn't that him there in those fake mutton-chop whiskers and the cowboy hat? Look OUT, Baudelaire orphans! Look out! Oh, I must close the book now and go lie down for a bit to recover from the fright he always gives me.

Bleak, depressing, and wonderful...

The Austere Academy, fifth in A Series of Unfortunate Events, will not disappoint fans of the books. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are stuck at a nightmarish boarding school, where they are made to live in a shack that includes territorial crabs, a strange tan fungus, and truly hideous wallpaper. Added to this are incredibly dull classes and a headmaster who cannot play the violin but insists on doing so anyway...for six hours a night at an all-school concert. If only these were the worst of the Baudelaires' problems, they could finally consider themselves lucky. But, alas, the fiendish Count Olaf has tracked them down yet again. Once again the Baudelaires must try to discover his evil plan in time to save themselves and their fortune. Along the way there are more clues about Lemony Snicket's mysterious lady love, the charming and beautiful but unfortunately deceased Beatrice...A great read, but be warned that the ending is a cliffhanger that will leave you feeling very impatient to get your hands on the next volume!

A delightfully miserable continuation!

The lives of the three Baudelaire orphans - fourteen-year-old Violent, twelve-year-old Klause, and baby Sunny - continue along their miserable path in The Austere Academy, the fifth book in A Series of Unfortunate Events. Their latest home is at Prufrock Preparatory School, headed by the nasty Vice Principal Nero, who gives dreaful six-hour violin recitals nightly. Forced to live in a miserable shack, the children only encounter one bright spot - they make friends with two other orphans. But nothing good lasts long if you are the Baudelaires - Count Olaf is in disguise at the school, planning to steal their fortune. I highly reccomend this addition to the series. It is one of the most delightful - eh, miserable - so far.