What is The Bad Beginning?
{{Infobox book | | name = The Bad Beginning | translator = | image = | caption = | author = [[Lemony Snicket]] (pen name of [[Daniel Handler]]) | illustrator = [[Brett Helquist]] | cover_artist = Brett Helquist | country = [[United States]] | language = [[English language|English]] | series = ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' | genre = [[Gothic fiction]]<br>[[Absurdist fiction]]<br>[[Steampunk]]<br>[[Mystery fiction|Mystery]] | publisher = Scholastic Inc. | release_date = September 30, 1999 | media_type = Print ([[Hardcover|hardback]] & [[paperback]]) | pages = 162 | isbn = 978-0-06-440766-3 | dewey= [[Fiction|Fic]] 21 | congress= PZ7.S6795 Bad 1999 | oclc= 41070636 | followed_by = [[The Reptile Room]] }} '''''The Bad Beginning''''' is a [[book]] by [[Lemony Snicket]]. It is the first book in a series called ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]''. The book was released in 1999. == Plot == [[Violet Baudelaire|Violet]], [[Klaus Baudelaire|Klaus]] and [[Sunny Baudelaire]] were enjoying a day at [[Briny Beach]]. Mr. Poe, a [[bank]]er and friend of the family, went to the [[beach]] to them that their parents had died in a [[fire]] which also [[wikt:destroy|destroyed]] their [[home]]. Mr. Poe is the [[executor]] of the Baudelaire [[money|fortune]]. It is his [[responsibility]] to put the children with a [[guardian]] and take care of their money until Violet turns eighteen (the legal age to handle money). The Baudelaire children were taken to their new guardian [[Count Olaf]]. Olaf is a distant [[Kinship|relative]] of the children. He works as an [[actor]]. On their way, they met Justice Strauss. Strauss is a kind and friendly [[judge]] who lives in the house next to them. She tells the children that they are welcome in her home anytime, which has a [[library]] in it. Count Olaf is a very [[cruel]], [[dirt|filthy]] man. He has one long [[eyebrow]] and a strange [[tattoo]] of an [[eye]] on his left [[ankle]]. Olaf lives in a dirty