Lemony Snicket's a series of unfortunate events: After the sudden death of their parents, the three Baudelaire children must depend on each other and their wits when it turns out that the distant relative, Count Olaf, who is appointed their guardian is determined to use any means necessary to get their fortune. After escaping him they are briefly taken in by a kindly herpetologist, but then are sent to live with fearful Aunt Josephine who offers little protection against Count Olaf's treachery.

The Spiderwick chronicles: Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother, twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, along with their sister Mallory, find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures.

Hugo: In Paris in 1931, an orphan named Hugo Cabret, who lives in the walls of a train station, is wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.