I feel pretty much the same about this one as the second. A good read (or listen), but not a favorite of the series.

Aunt Josephine certainly wants to be a good guardian, but she's so dang scared of everything that she's kind of terrible. I mean, among many other things, they always have to have cold food because she's afraid of the stove.

This is when the stupid adults really start to grate on the nerves. I mean really, Po, how many times does Olaf have to disguise himself and show up before you start to at least become suspicious?

Things are really starting to look abysmal for the orphans.

Reader reviewed by Susan/Mrs.Fleming's class

I like this book. I like how The author, Lemony Snicket, likes to explain big words and how he makes his characters. like their gaurdian and how she always has to use correst grammer and stuff. i would recconmend this book for anyone!

Reader reviewed by Susie

This book is about three orphans and a villian who is a disgise master. They have lived with there relative count olaf after there parents were killed in a fire then count oalf tryed to marry Violet the oldest so he could get his hands on thre in heridense money. Then they lived with monty the researcher and will he meet olaf and the end at the same time. Now they live with a grammer loveing boreing afaird of light swiches telephones, water ovens and well anything. When olaf comes back things go wild. In the end the orphans are homeless again and left to be put with someone else. To find out more about this book read it.

Reader reviewed by LJK

I expected this series to start to lose its spark at this point, but if anything the novels actually get better as they go. Meaning that life gets worse for the Baudelaire orphans. This time, they've been sent to live with their Aunt Josephine, a woman who is afraid of everything, including the stove, the telephone, and basically everything else except grammar. She is as clueless as Mr. Poe when it comes to recognizing the danger that the children are in, and, well, to tell anything more would be to spoil the surprise. The novel runs true to form, and "children" of all ages will enjoy this exciting story.

Reader reviewed by Zac

He's done it again! Just as the previous two episodes of the Series of Unfortunate Events, Snicket has added more comic outlooks toward the caretaker of the three orphans. The flaws of these characters increase with each installment, from a snobbish villian, to an odd scientist, to a worrying woman who fears the very stove in the bare kitchen and the phone on the wall.

Reader reviewed by Hinge_Pin

The master of disguises and lies is at it again. By the way that wasn't a compliment. Olaf befriends the new orphans guardian. This one is afraid of the doorknobs, stove, and phone. Everything became dangerous the day that her husband died on the Lake, which her house over looks.
The mysteries of this book unravel more and more the deeper you dig. I know of many people who would read it in just one setting. The mastermind behind making these events known has done it again. This is a deep book and has many views of things. Will the children's lives ever get better.

Reader reviewed by Em

Aunt Josephine is very nervous about taking the kids that in the end the Baudelaire Orphans end up looking after her reather than the other way.....

i love all the books but because this one is in the movie as well it just makes it even better!!!!

Reader reviewed by Nicki



Next stop for the Baudelaire children is their Aunt Josephines place in which they had to cross Lake Lachrymose by a Fickle Ferry. Once they find out that Aunt Josephine is both a worrywart and a grammar queen. They also learned almost immediately that her husband Ike when he took a swim after only forty-five minutes after eating when she told him to wait an hour, so the Lachrymose leeches attacked him because they smelled food on him. They also learn that Lachrymose leeches are different from most leeches because they have 6 rows of very sharp teeth and one nose that can smell the tiniest amount of food from far away. It just about kills her to have to make so much mistakes. Thats when they know that her suicide note was fake circumstantial evidence leading everyone to at first belive she has killed herself because she was forced to by Captain Sham or a.k.a. Count Olaf in disguise once again. She also wrote a letter saying the children would be live well if they were given to Captain Sham. Therefore Mr. Poe , Captain Sham, and the Baudelaire orphans were having lunch together, however Violet, Klaus, and Sunny needed to figure a solution to their problem. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are all allergic to peppermints. Mr. Poe so kindly offers them one again and again and again. Finally they decide to have some peppermints to get out of having lunch with them. in her suicide letter she writes to the children who she knows are very intelligent and would be able to decode the message. The message was Curdled Cave. In the end Aunt Josephine is eaten by the Lachrymose leeches.

Reader reviewed by maram

this book is about the three baudelaires violet klaus and sunny's miserable lives. after they were sent away from count olaf in his house by the order of mr poe they go to their uncle which is mudered by count olaf they must continue there journy to there aunt.

they meet count olaf again disguised as a captain. there aunty inivtes him over which leads to trouble of here living while hurricane herman is happening. she says she is moving in a cave to live in, doesnt go to well. tradically in the end she dies.
a sad story oh hurt and orphans

Reader reviewed by Allyssa

The Wide Window is the third book of A Series of Unfortunate Events. In this book, Violet, Klaus and Sunny move in with their unknown, distant Aunt Josephine. Their Aunt Josephine is afraid of everything. She wouldn't use the heater, in case it were to explode. She doesn't stand near windows, in case she was to suddenly fall out of it. She won't even use the stove, and instead eats cold soup. The only thing that doesn't seem to bother her, is her house. Her house is located on the edge of a large cliff, hanging on for dear life. Although their aunt is weird and they don't seem to connect that well, they are cared for and loved once again. However, another set of unfortunate events pops up when they find out that a hurricane is heading their way. They decide to stock up on their food and head down the market. It's no surprise when Count Olaf is also at the market. This time Count Olaf is disguised poorly as a Captain. Despite the Baudelaire's warnings, Aunt Josephine becomes fond of him, and the unfortunate events begin once again...


I liked this book. To be honest, I liked the entire series. The thing I liked most about this book was how adventurous it was. Their aunt Josephine was afraid of everything, yet she lived in the edge of a cliff. And the Baudelaire children had to go into a lake full of leeches, trying to save their Aunt. (Keeping in mind that they were not ordinary leeches, they were man eating leeches). It definitely has a bit more action than the other two books have. If you read the other two books in this series, you will not be disappointed with this next book.