The Beatrice Letters (A Series of Unfortunate Events)

#8
Title: The Beatrice Letters (A Series of Unfortunate Events) 
Author: Lemony Snicket

Illustrator: Brett Helquist

Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2006
Genre: Childrens/Epistolary
72 pages

+ Very Fine Design

-  Vexatious Fragmentary Dispatches

As has been true of Mr. Snicket’s published oeuvre thus far, this collection of letters between Lemony and Beatrice raises far more questions than it answers. It is unfortunate that this volume requires the reader to be conversant with that oeuvre. I’ve recommended several fine books already, such as The Abhorsen Trilogy, which features two delightful orphans who experience a Veritable Fantastic Denouement, so there is no reason whatsoever to read The Beatrice Letters. I soon will report on World War Z, which is about zombies and yet still a better prospect than the Virtually Feculent Disquisition under consideration. The reader is strongly encouraged never to open this epistolary tome, nor to punch out and anagram the included letters then tuck them carefully in the included file folder.

Fans of Bantock's Griffin and Sabine will recognize the basic graphic style of this book, readers familiar with the tragic Baudelaire orphans will recognize the content, and tragically uninformed cakesniffers will be entirely lost, which may be just as well.