ABSTRACT
This chapter expresses that The Bad Beginning demonstrates the ways in which children's literature has been as much about child-hating as it has been about child-loving, and the line between loving and hating, or pedophilia and pedophobia, is not nearly as stable or clear as we might expect. Pedophobic caretakers in children's literature give vent to adult hostility toward children that is increasingly too taboo to be spoken aloud or acknowledged in polite company or public discourse. Indeed, the vogue for stories about orphan girls, who are initially hated by adults, coincides with the popular reconceptualization of children as sacred objects to care for and protect. Pollyanna and A Series of Unfortunate Events have been tremendously popular with both child and adult readers, signaling their ability to elicit reader pleasure. Adult reviewers expressed delight in the ways the series humorously menaces the child protagonists.
