Miss Peregine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Publisher: Quirk Publishing
Publication Date: June 7, 2011
Pages: 348
Source: purchased
Buy It: Amazon | Borders | Barnes & Noble

A mysterious island.
An abandoned orphanage.
A strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows. --Goodreads

Almost every child is told nonsense stories from their grandparents. Jacob never dreamed that the stories he was told as a boy would be real. When his grandfather is murdered, Jacob visits the island from his grandpa’s stories to help him cope with the death. The island has a personality of its own and if Jacob takes the wrong step, he may end up in a loop, or much worse: get killed by a monster.

This book is fantastic. If you are picking out your list of books to read during Halloween or October, this novel better be there because if the plot doesn’t freak you out, the pictures will give you nightmares. This book is so strange. I loved every minute of it. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is a unique novel with creepy pictures that go along with the storyline. The thing that got me was that most of the pictures (look to the last page or so for more information) are authentic; they are donated pictures. That just made the creepy factor much stranger.

The plot was good. It wasn’t great, due to some of the relationship issues with two of the characters (I’ll get to that later on). It began with Jacob’s boring life in his hometown, which was a bit slow. The pace picked up real fast when the grandfather passed away, so do not put the book down! I loved the idea of loops, which is another word for time traveling. The whole book was so original that Riggs should get an award for being so imaginative. The only thing that had me grossed out a bit was the relationship with Jacob and Emma. At first I couldn’t really stand it, but I took on the characters’ perspectives and decided that it wasn’t all bad. I don’t want to give much away because I want to hear your opinion on their relationship. If you’ve read the book, what did you fell about Emma and Jacob?

Ransom Riggs is amazing. He created this entire visual journey that told a great story. I don’t know how this book will translate to audio CD, but it will be interesting to see it come to life. And, good news, there will be a sequel. Riggs has confirmed on his website that he plans for a second novel. His writing was fantastic and he knew exactly how to conduct his novel in a way to make it so strange that his readers will be coming back for more every time.

First Sentence:

“I had just come to accept that my life would be ordinary when extraordinary things began to happen.”

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, p.8

Rating:

Characters: 4
Cover: 5
Plot: 4
Writing Style: 5
Ending: 5
Overall: 5