The Ersatz Elevator facts for kids
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| Author | Lemony Snicket (pen name of Daniel Handler) |
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| Illustrator | Brett Helquist |
| Cover artist | Brett Helquist |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | A Series of Unfortunate Events |
| Genre | Gothic fiction Absurdist fiction Mystery |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
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Publication date
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March 2001 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 259 |
| ISBN | 0-06-440864-7 (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC | 44777210 |
| Fic 21 | |
| LC Class | PZ7.S6795 Er 2001 |
| Preceded by | The Austere Academy |
| Followed by | The Vile Village |
The Ersatz Elevator is the sixth book in the popular A Series of Unfortunate Events collection by Lemony Snicket. In this story, the Baudelaire orphans are sent to live with a very rich couple, Esmé and Jerome Squalor.
Contents
What Happens in the Story?
Moving to a New Home
Mr. Poe takes the Baudelaire children to their new home at 667 Dark Avenue. The street is called "Dark Avenue" because light is considered "out of style" there. The apartment building's elevators are also "out of style," so the children have to walk up many, many stairs to reach the Squalors' fancy apartment at the very top.
Jerome Squalor welcomes the children warmly. He offers them "aqueous martinis," which are just water with an olive in a fancy glass. He then introduces them to his wife, Esmé Squalor. Esmé is a very important financial advisor in the city. She cares a lot about what is "in" (popular) and what is "out" (unpopular).
Jerome is a kind man and a good friend of the Baudelaires' late mother. He truly cares for the children. However, Esmé adopted them mainly because orphans were "in" at the time. Esmé sends the children and Jerome to a restaurant called Café Salmonella. She says she needs to stay home to talk privately with a trendy auctioneer named Gunther about an upcoming auction.
Count Olaf's Disguise
Esmé gives the children huge pinstripe suits to wear. The Baudelaires soon realize that Gunther is actually Count Olaf in disguise! He tries to hide his famous unibrow with a monocle and wears horse riding boots to cover the eye tattoo on his ankle.
Even though the children protest, Jerome takes them to the restaurant. Jerome thinks the children are just being afraid of strangers and doesn't believe their suspicions about Gunther.
The Fake Elevator Shaft
Klaus notices something strange: every floor has one elevator door, except the top floor, which has two. The children discover that the extra elevator is "ersatz," meaning fake. It's just an empty shaft!
They climb down this fake shaft and find the two Quagmire triplets trapped in a cage at the bottom. The Quagmires explain that Count Olaf plans to smuggle them out of the city. He will hide them as an item in the "In" auction, and one of his helpers will buy them. The Baudelaires quickly go back to the penthouse to find tools to free the Quagmires. But when they return, Gunther has already taken the Quagmires away. The children feel very sad and defeated.
The "In" Auction and a Big Surprise
Klaus finds an item in the auction catalog listed as Lot #50, V.F.D. The Baudelaires believe this is where the Quagmires will be hidden. The Quagmires had told them that Count Olaf was involved in a secret group called V.F.D.
The Baudelaires tell Esmé about their discovery. But it turns out Esmé knew who Gunther was all along! She was actually helping Count Olaf kidnap the Quagmires. When the Baudelaires show her the fake elevator, she pushes them down the empty shaft. Luckily, they land in a net halfway down.
Sunny, using her sharp teeth, climbs up the shaft and gets a rope. She then jumps back down into the net. Sunny bites a hole in the net, and the children use the rope to climb down. Using Violet's fake welding torches, they travel along a hallway at the bottom of the shaft. But it leads to a dead end. They hit the "ceiling" and realize it's a trap door! They escape through it and find themselves in the ashes of their old home.
The Auction Hall
The children rush to Veblen Hall, where the auction is taking place. They join the crowd already there. Gunther and Esmé are on stage, auctioning off Lot #46. The children ask Jerome to buy Lot #50 for them. Mr. Poe and Jerome both bid, but then stop. Sunny surprisingly bids on it and wins!
The Baudelaires open the box without paying. Inside, they find Very Fancy Doilies instead of the Quagmires. Gunther slips on the doilies, and his disguise falls apart. His boots and monocle fly off, showing his unibrow and tattoo. Count Olaf and Esmé run away, with the audience chasing them.
The doorman is revealed to be the Hook-Handed Man. The Quagmires were actually hidden inside a statue of a red herring (which is also a phrase for a distraction). Jerome wants to keep the Baudelaires safe, but he wants to take them far away from Count Olaf. The children refuse because they want to rescue the Quagmires.
The story ends with Jerome having to give up the children because he isn't brave enough to help them. Mr. Poe is busy calling a Vietnamese restaurant instead of the police. The three children are left sitting on the steps in front of Veblen Hall, alone once again.
Fun Facts and Hidden Meanings
- The Café Salmonella is a clever name that sounds like salmon and also refers to the disease.
- Esmé Gigi Geniveve Squalor's name is a nod to a famous story by J. D. Salinger called "For Esmé – with Love and Squalor". Her husband Jerome shares Salinger's first name.
- A "Red herring" is a phrase used to describe something that distracts you from the truth. In the book, the Quagmires were hidden inside a statue of a red herring fish!
- The building at 667 Dark Avenue has 1,849 windows. This number is special because it's the year Edgar Allan Poe died.
- The address 667 Dark Avenue is just one number away from 666, which is often linked to evil.
- Veblen Hall, where the auction happens, might be named after Thorstein Veblen. He was an economist who talked about "conspicuous consumption"—buying things just to show off your wealth.
- When the Baudelaires first climb the stairs, they hear a woman say, "Let them eat cake." This famous quote is often linked to Marie Antoinette.
Different Language Versions
This book has been translated into many languages around the world! Here are a few examples:
- Brazilian Portuguese: "O Elevador Ersatz"
- Finnish: "Haamuhissi" (meaning "The Ghost Elevator")
- French: "Ascenseur pour la Peur" (meaning "Elevator to Horror")
- German: "Die dunkle Allee" (meaning "The Dark Alley")
- Italian: "L'Ascensore Ansiogeno" (meaning "The Anxiogenic Elevator")
- Japanese: "まやかしエレベーター" (meaning "The Fake Elevator")
- Korean: "아찔한 엘리베이터" (meaning "Giddy Lift")
- Norwegian: Den skjulte sjakten (meaning "The Secret Shaft")
- Polish: "Winda widmo" (meaning "The Phantom Elevator")
- Russian: "Липовый лифт"
- Spanish: "El Ascensor Artificioso"
- Swedish: "Det Hemliga Hisskaktet"
- Turkish: "Alacakaranlık Bulvarı"
TV Show Version
This book was turned into episodes for the TV show on Netflix. It makes up the third and fourth episodes of the second season.
