The Austere Academy (2000) is the fifth novel in A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. When the Bauldelaire children are sent to Prufrock Preparatory School, they are nearly bored to death with the teachers tedious work and dull personalities. Their living quarters are even less exciting, full of ankle biting crabs and a strange fungus that seeps from the ceiling. They receive a glimmer of hope when they meet some new friends, the Quagmire triplets, but their new friends and all of their lives are once again in danger when a mysterious gym teacher joins the Prufrock administration.