The Bad Beginning

I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but first impressions are often entirely wrong.


But the children knew, as I'm sure you know, that the worst surroundings in the world can be tolerated if the people in them are interesting and kind.


Sometimes, just saying that you hate something, and having someone agree with you, can make you feel better about a terrible situation.


Unless you have been very, very lucky, you have undoubtedly experienced events in your life that have made you cry. So unless you have been very, very lucky, you know that a good, long session of weeping can often make you feel better, even if your circumstances have not changed one bit.


I'm sure you, in your life, have occasionally wished to be raised by different people than the ones who are raising you, but knew in your heart that the chances of this were very slim.


It is very useful, when one is young, to learn the difference between “literally” and “figuratively.” If something happens literally, it actually happens; if something happens figuratively, it feels like it's happening. If you are literally jumping for joy, for instance, it means you are leaping in the air because you are very happy. If you are figuratively jumping for joy, it means you are so happy that you could jump for joy, but are saving your energy for other matters.


But by immersing themselves in their favorite reading topics, they felt far away from their predicament, as if they had escaped.


There are many, many types of books in the world, which makes good sense, because there are many, many types of people, and everybody wants to read something different.


They didn't understand it, but like so many unfortunate events in life, just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it isn't so.