THE REPTILE ROOM is the second in Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events books that follow the rotten, cursed life of the Baudelaire children. This installment plays less on their ill luck--that can safely be taken for granted--and more on the story at hand, a mystery cunningly unraveled by the children. Snicket presents it almost like a play, with plenty of detail and a drawing-room atmosphere.

Snicket does not rely on shock value to keep his audience's interest--he actually prepares them well for the bad tidings to come--but rather animates his bleak comedy with a suspenseful mystery that gathers momentum as it goes. As well, he ably handles unhappy emotions that steal over the Baudelaire children--and likely experienced by some of the readers as well--such as the "dark and curious feeling of falling that accompanies any great loss."

These books don't become stale. Their durability is clear from the rare comment overheard when an 11-year-old lent the book to a friend: "And I want it back."

The further adventure of the Baudelaire's are chronicled in Snicket's The Bad Beginning and The Wide Window. Two other books full of sly humor and suspense are William Mayne's Hob and the Goblins and Hob and the Peddler. And Shel Silverstein's poetry, such as Where the Sidewalk Ends, is good, wicked mischief.