Sunday, December 11, 2016

The Lump of Coal by Lemony Snicket

Title: The Lump of Coal
Author: Lemony Snicket
Format: Picture Book
Length: 34 pages

The Story

This is the story of a lump of coal who rolls out of a bag of coals and goes off in search of something interesting. He finds a snobby art gallery manager, a disappointingly inauthentic Korean restaurant, and a fake Santa before his fortune finally takes a turn for the better.

My Thoughts

If you're a fan of Lemony Snicket's other books you will probably like this one too. The premise is odd, and it just gets odder as you go. I particularly enjoy the part where the lump of coal goes into a Korean restaurant and can tell by the smell of oregano that the restaurant does not cook real Korean food.

Snicket does tend to use a lot of big words, which can be good for a kid's vocabulary but which also means young readers will probably struggle with this one. It's probably better suited to parents reading to their young children, or for older readers to read on their own.