The Ersatz Elevator (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 6)
Book the Sixth in Lemony Snicket's series about the unfortunate events that befall the Baudelaire orphans after their parents die. In this book, they get another new set of guardians, and learn the meaning of the word ersatz.
The banker in charge of the Baudelaire orphans must find them another new home in this book. Don't worry if you haven't read the other books. Lemony Snicket does a good job of weaving in details from their past sets of guardians, and teases you with bits of information about the unfortunate things that have happened in the series so far.
He places them with the Squalors in their enormous apartment on Dark Avenue. Mrs. Squalor is very concerned about things that are "in" at the moment, and the children are forced to drink yucky drinks and wear clothes that don't fit, just so that they will be in style.
Violet, the oldest Bauselaire orphan, and an inventor are happy to have a wooden bench which is perfect for keeping tools. Unfortunately, tools are not "in" so the bench is empty. Her brother Klaus is disappointed to find out that all the books in the library were just books of lists of what was in and out during history. And the baby Sunny had nothing to bite.
The villain (Count Olaf) shows up, but nobody believes that it's him, because he is wearing a disguise. The children spend their time trying to find their way around the apartment, trying to figure out what happened to Count Olaf, and trying to find a way to save their friends the Quagmire triplets (who were kidnapped by Count Olaf).
Along the way, Lemony Snicket explains a lot of things about, well everything. Including the fact that the word ersatz means: a situation in which one thing is pretending to be another.
