Poe ends up changing the first syllable everytime they meet (e.g. Sir, a very distant relative, has a very difficult name, and Mr. Poe, an inept bank employee, introduces the children to him. The children never see his face because it is always surrounded by cigar smoke. Their new guardian, the owner of the mill, is simply called Sir. Their suspicions that this guardian will also be terrible increase as they start walking toward the Lucky Smells Lumbermill. The children arrive in Paltryville, a depressing rural area where, they are told, their new guardian will take care of them.

Sunny is a toddler who can only crawl at the moment, and who frequently uses her four sharp teeth to help the Baudelaire Children escape their foes. He is remarkable for his big, round glasses, and his capacious memory. She is an inventor who always puts her hair up with a ribbon when she’s about to build a machine that will help the children escape the clutches of one of their many adversaries. In each book in the series, the unfortunate orphans move from one guardian to the next. The Miserable Mill begins with the purported author, Lemony Snicket, describing the current life of the Baudelaire children. The series has been lauded for its dark humor, literary references, and characters who encourage qualities such as resilience, courage, compassion, and sacrifice for family and friends. It follows three orphans as they endure hard labor while their distant relative, Count Olaf, attempts to steal the inheritance left to them by their deceased parents. The fourth novel of the series is called The Miserable Mill (2000). American author Dan Handler is best known for his 13-book series aimed at children called A Series of Unfortunate Events, which he wrote under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket.

The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket