Instruct: Classify a given Amazon review as either positive or negative.
Query: Worthless ...

I am a 19 year old reader raised on Newbury Award winners and I love fine children's literature more than anything. I feel that the first two books from "A Series of Unfortunate Events" were by far the worst pieces of children's literature I have ever read. I simply could not stomach reading more books from that series. If you want a truly sad book, try "The Bridge to Terebithia". It, unlike Lemony Snicket's, has three dimensional characters and a reason to cry at the end."A Series of Unfortunate Events" is everything good writing is not. It is shallow, lacking in plot and character development, and insulting to children's intelligence. It is insulting to read reviews proclaiming these books as equals with great children's writing.I feel that children who enjoy these books need to be exposed to much better writing. Lemony Snicket's books are a very very poor reflection of what is available to children.