The Carnivorous Carnival (A Series of Unfortunate Events #9)

By Lemony Snicket

In this installment, the Baudelaires arrive at Caligari Carnival after hitching a ride in Count Olaf’s trunk. Their plan, as usual, is to seek safety from Count Olaf, but they soon discover that there’s nowhere to go, and Count Olaf will be in the vicinity for some time to come. They take a huge chance by disguising themselves as freaks in order to participate in Caligari Carnival’s freak show (Violet and Clause as a two-headed freak, and Sunny as Chabo the Wolf Baby), which lands them working right alongside Count Olaf.

Now that the Baudelaires  are in close quarters with Count Olaf and his troupe, they discover more interesting clues about V.F.D. and other more shocking facts regarding their parents. Will the childrens’ stealthy behavior pay off? Will they ever discover what happened to their parents?

“One of the most troublesome things in life is that what you do or do not want has very little to do with what does or does not happen.”

This one had us on edge! The children are incredibly close to danger once again, working up close with Count Olaf and his nasty accomplices. This added a lot of suspense. There were slow parts, but it didn’t take long to pick up, and we found ourselves racing to discover what would happen with the children this time around.

“Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant, filled with odd waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don’t always like.”

We appreciated the new characters in this installment. Madame Lulu is an interesting new character that ties in with a few of the other books. She’s willing to help the Baudelaires, which is rare and often ends disastrously.

Comparable to the other books, there are many new vocabulary words introduced for children to learn in this installment including: haughtily, depict, contortionist, eavesdropping, ambidextrous, and dilemma to name a few.

The ending had us quite shocked, and like last time, we had to move right on to the next book. Overall, we really enjoyed this one.

4****

Find this book on Goodreads and Amazon:

• Age Range: 8 – 12 years
• Grade Level: 5 – 6
• Hardcover: 286 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; F First Edition Stated edition (October 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0064410129
• ISBN-13: 978-0064410120

Thanks for reading my review of The Carnivorous Carnival. Have you read this series? Let’s chat in the comment section below.

❤ Mischenko