Count Olaf certainly does sound evil. Imagine forcing children to stand near a stove!

Miracles are like meatballs, because nobody can exactly agree on what they are made of, where they come from, or how often they should appear.

I’m reminded of a book my father used to read me,” she said. “A bunch of elves and things get into a huge war over a piece of jewelry that everybody wants but nobody can wear.

It is often difficult to admit that someone you love is not perfect, or to consider aspects of a person that are less than admirable.

In the secret pocket, she often kept a small pocket dictionary, which she would take out whenever she encountered a word she did not know.

This story is about the Baudelaires. And they are the sort of people who know that there’s always something. Something to invent, something to read, something to bite, and something to do, to make a sanctuary, no matter how small. And for this reason, I am happy to say, the Baudelaires were very fortunate indeed.

If you don’t care about something, one way to demonstrate your feelings is to say the word and then repeat the word with the letters S-C-H-M replacing the first letters. Somebody who didn’t care about dentists, for instance could say ‘Dentist, schmentists.