R is for reading

“It is said that the effect of eating too much lettuce is ‘soporific’. I have never felt sleepy after eating lettuces; but then I am not a rabbit.”
The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies

Dear Beatrix,

Thank you for teaching me to read; thank you for not being afraid to throw sesquipedalian words at very young readers. And thank you for demonstrating how a writer can gracefully introduce unfamiliar words or concepts and use context rather than didactic explanations to give them meaning.

JK Rowling seems to have understood your model; Mr Lemony Snicket most irritatingly does not, despite attempting to conceal his clumsy device in the persons of various equally irritating adult characters. ('"Irritating" means causing annoyance and giving displeasure,' writes Thomasina, coughing into her handkerchief. 'We know!' choruses a multitude of readers.)