By Colorado Kids Special Correspondent Sammy Forshner

Title: The Hostile Hospital (Book #8 in A Series of Unfortunate Events)
Author: Lemony Snicket
Illustrator: Bret Helquist

The Hostile Hospital is the 8th and latest novel in Lemony Snicket's series about the sad tale of the Baudelaire orphans. If you have not read the first seven books, you might still enjoy this one, but I think these sorts of books are better when you read them in the right order. That way you'll be familiar with all of the characters and their history.

Like the first seven books, you are warned on the back of the book that this is not a cheerful story. The characters are the same in this book and they have the same sort of unusual and unpredictable adventures. Violet, is 14 years old and the oldest of the three orphans. Klaus has recently turned 13, and Sunny is the baby. Sunny has only 4 teeth and speaks a kind of baby talk that only her brother and sister van understand. The orphan have spent much of their lives recently under the supervision of Count Olaf, who seems to always be around, but has not been very nice to them.

The Hospital in this story is called Heimlich Hospital, which is sort of funny is you have ever heard of the Heimlich maneuver. That is when someone is choking, you can grab them around the waist and push in their stomach. Then the food they are choking on will pop out. You see little posters about this at restaurants sometimes. There are a lot of little jokes and word plays in this book that are funny, if you can understand them.

I don't want to tell too much of the story. You'll have to read it for yourself. Lemony Snicket never likes to tell too much about anything and just keeps you guessing and wanting to find out more. I know this, because I interviewed him in the summer! But I will tell you that when you read this book, you know that there will be a book #9, because of how it ends. It leaves you wondering about a big question: are the Baudelaire orphans really orphans or is it possible that one of their parents is alive?

The Lemony Snicket books are a lot of fun to read, but they go by pretty fast. I read this one in one night. The book says they are for ages 10 and up, but I think that is too high. None of the kids in my class are too interested in Lemony Snicket, but a lot of the younger kids in 3rd and 4th are really into these books. So, I would say they would be good for ages 8 and up. These books definitely will take your mind off of things that might be bothering you, so I would recommend all of the Lemony Snicket books for pleasure reading for almost any age.(October, 2001)