The Beatrice Letters facts for kids
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| Author | Lemony Snicket Daniel Handler |
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| Illustrator | Brett Helquist |
| Cover artist | Brett Helquist |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | A Series of Unfortunate Events (companion) |
| Genre | Gothic children's fiction |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
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Publication date
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September 4, 2006 (UK) September 5, 2006 (US) |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 72 pp |
| ISBN | 0-06-058658-3 |
| OCLC | 64229864 |
| LC Class | PZ7.S6795 Bea 2006 |
The Beatrice Letters is a special book written by Lemony Snicket. It's like a companion to his famous children's series, A Series of Unfortunate Events. This book came out just before the very last book in that series. The cover hints that it's connected to "Book the Thirteenth," which is the final story. The British version even says it holds a clue to that last book.
Contents
About The Beatrice Letters
This unique book is made up of thirteen letters. Six of these letters are from a character named Beatrice Baudelaire II to Lemony Snicket. Another six are from Lemony Snicket to a different person named Beatrice Baudelaire. There is also one letter from Lemony Snicket to his editor.
Who Are the Beatrices?
Even though they share the same name, the two Beatrices are different people. Lemony Snicket's letters show his life from childhood up until just before Violet Baudelaire was born. The Beatrice who writes to Snicket seems to be writing after the events of the final book, The End.
The older Beatrice is the one Lemony Snicket often mentions in A Series of Unfortunate Events as his lost love. This book reveals that she is the mother of the Baudelaire children: Violet, Klaus, and Sunny. The younger Beatrice's identity is not fully explained in this book. However, it is hinted that she also has a connection to the Baudelaire orphans. In The End, it is revealed that she is the daughter of Kit Snicket. Kit's daughter is later raised by the Baudelaire orphans.
What Else Is Inside?
The book also includes twelve letters of the alphabet that you can punch out. Each of these letters is mentioned in interesting ways throughout the book. For example, the first punch-out letter is an 'E'. This is shown next to a map that Snicket drew, which is shaped like an 'E'.
These punch-out letters can be rearranged to form different words. For instance, they can spell "Beatrice Sank." This refers to the boat named 'The Beatrice' from the book The End. They can also spell "A Snicket Brae," suggesting that Lemony Snicket might have lived in the hills for some time.
The book also comes with a poster. This poster shows what looks like the remains of 'The Beatrice' boat. You can also see a cave, Klaus's glasses, Violet's hair ribbon, and Sunny's cookbooks on the poster.
How Was the Book Received?
The website Kidsreads.com really liked The Beatrice Letters. They said that Lemony Snicket included "one of the most touching and heartfelt (if absurd) love letters ever written." They also felt the book made readers even more excited for "Book the Thirteenth."
Over 350,000 copies of The Beatrice Letters were sold in the United States in 2006.
See also
In Spanish: Las cartas de Beatrice para niños
