By Christian Ciabattoni

“The Grim Grotto” (HarperCollins, 2004) is the 11th book in the “Series of Unfortunate Events” by Lemony Snicket. Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire are some of the unluckiest children in the world. Their parents died in a fire, and from that time on they have been pursued by a greedy, evil man named Count Olaf and his Baudelaire-loathing deputies. In this grim series of books, the Baudelaire orphans go from one place to another with near-fatal accidents everywhere they go.

In “The Grim Grotto,” Violet, Klaus and Sunny float down to the Stricken Stream on a toboggan and wonder whether their lives will ever get better. As they turn the corner, they find themselves face to face with an adventure on a submarine. The Baudelaire orphans are on a mission with the V.F.D (a secret organization) to find an object called the sugar bowl. I never found out what was so special about the sugar bowl.

Two-year-old Sunny is the best cook on the submarine and the best biter. Klaus is a researcher, and Violet is the best inventor I’ve read about. Count Olaf and his cronies steal a huge electronic octopus/submarine to also seek the sugar bowl and capture the Baudelaire fortune.

One question you may ask is, Why is this book called “The Grim Grotto”? The grotto is where Klaus first estimated that the current took the sugar bowl.

Unfortunately, all the children find is junk, and Medusoid mycelium, a mushroom that can grow incredibly fast and can suffocate people. A bit falls into Sonny’s diving helmet, which she took off because there was air in the grotto.

Not until much later do the older children realize they have to save their sister from

suffocating.

Fiona, known as Triangle Eyes to Count Olaf, and Carmelita, together with Violet and Klaus help save Sunny using wasabi, a substitute for horseradish as well as a cure from the mushroom that would have killed Sunny.

I would recommend this book to readers looking for the grimmest of grim legends. Although the “Series of Unfortunate Events” books are very grim, they are fun to read on grim days when you are grim and cross, because you realize the Baudelaire kids have it grimmer than you.

Christian Ciabattoni is a fourth-grader at the Waldorf School.