As the Baudelaire orphans trudge up the dark stairway that leads to their new home, they can't help but wonder what lies above. Could this be the place where they will finally be safe? In their luxurious new home, surely they will be able to relax. With some luck, Violet can finally enjoy inventing as a hobby. Unless, of course, she must invent a contraption in an attempt to free friends in danger. And Klaus may find time to enjoy reading in the Squalors' private library. That is, if he doesn't need the books to find one piece of vital information. And Sunny may be able to spend her time gleefully gnawing. Unless she needs to employ her extraordinary teeth to escape a terrifying trap. What lies above is a mystery, but what is certain is that when you are living on the top floor of a tall apartment building, it's a long way down. The Baudelaires had best be prepared, just in case the penthouse apartment of 667 Dark Avenue presents a series of unfortunate events. Grade 4-6-The resourceful, likable, but extremely unlucky orphans Violet, Klaus, and baby Sunny continue to flee from the clutches of the fortune-hunting, disguise-wearing Count Olaf. Also, they need to discover the whereabouts of their kidnapped friends, Duncan and Isadora Quagmire, based on the puzzling clue "V.F.D." In Elevator, the three Baudelaires go to live in the penthouse of the trend-following Jerome and Esm? Squalor, who adopt the children because orphans are "in." Despite the Baudelaires' resourcefulness, both Olaf and the Quagmires elude the grasp of the authorities due to the obtuseness of adults who, until it is too late, deny that terrible things can happen. In Village, the Baudelaires travel to V.F.D., a village that adopts the orphans based on the aphorism, "it takes a village to raise a child." They uncover the whereabouts of the Quagmires, but, as in the earlier books, they find neither respite nor peace from Count Olaf's machinations. Despite Snicket's artful turning of clich?s on their well-worn heads, Elevator sometimes belabors the fallacy of fads at the expense of plot. Nonetheless, the satiric treatment of adults' insistence upon decorum at the expense of truth is simultaneously satisfying and unsettling, as are the deft slams at slant journalism in Village. Arch literary allusions enhance the stories for readers on different levels. Despite Snicket's perpetual caveats to "put this book down and pick up another one," the Baudelaires are dynamic characters who inspire loyalty to the inevitable end of the series. Farida S. Dowler, formerly at Bellevue Regional Library, WA Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. Lemony Snicket claims he was nowhere near the scene of the crime. He is the author of several other unpleasant stories, including those in the bestselling A Series of Unfortunate Events and The Lump of Coal .