Published: June 7, 2012
Publisher: Quirk Books
Series: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Acquired: Digital copy
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.
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.
Okay, I may sound like a loser because I only started reading this book right after the author dropped by. I loved it! Okay, that may be the understatement of the year but, I really loved it.
It started slow. I never really liked slow paced books but then it sets the tone for the whole book which is mysterious and dark and adventurous.
The photographs added the dark effect in the book which scared me a bit. Yes, it did. A cousin of mine thought the book was a bedtime story. Which I'm not so sure he would enjoy. But anyways, the photos were just so beautiful and I think it helped me and other readers as well to visualize the characters and the places they were in.
Presenting the Peculiar Children!
Jacob Portman - can see hollowgasts like his grandfather, Abraham Portman.
Emma Bloom - can procure fire from her hands.
Millard Nullings - invisible and can keep track of the things that is happening within the loops
Olive - the young girl is literally lighter than air.
Bronwyn - a girl who can lift heavy things heavier than her
Enoch - he can revive dead humans and animals only for brief periods of time
Horace - he has prophetic visions and wears old fashioned clothes
Hugh Apiston - has bees living inside his body and can control them.
Claire - a young girl with an extra mouth behind her head covered by her beautiful curls
Fiona - a girl who can grow plants
Miss Alma LeFay Peregrine - known as the Bird, Miss Peregrine is an ymbryne, who can manipulate time, and is headmistress for the Home of Peculiar Children and can transform into a beautiful peregrine falcon.
A lot of character names to memorize but it's no big deal. The plot reminded me of X-Men though. But only set in the 1940s in Wales, Great Britain. The similarities end there.
I can't put into words how much I love this book. I am in a stupor. Aside from the photographs, the words were woven into sentences that when put together to form paragraphs were just so hauntingly beautiful and took my breath away.
This book is intended for all ages, I think. Not only young adults, but this can cater to like kids as well. Well, kids who ain't scared of the dark and old pictures and who loves reading. This book definitely satisfied a twelve year old me who was so enamored with romance novels at the time.
Ransom Riggs is an American writer and filmmaker best known for the book Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.
Riggs was born in Maryland on a 200 year old farm, and grew up in Florida where he attended the Pine View School for the Gifted. He studied English literature at Kenyon College, and studied film at the University of Southern California. His work on short films for the Internet and blogging for Mental Floss got him a job writing The Sherlock Holmes Handbook which was released as a tie-in to the 2009 Sherlock Holmes film.
Riggs had collected curious vernacular photographs and approached his publisher, Quirk Books, about using some of them in a picture book. On the suggestion of an editor, Riggs used the photographs as a guide from which to put together a narrative. The resulting book was Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children which made The New York Times Best Seller list.
Another book inspired by old photographs, Talking Pictures was published by Harper Collins in October 2012. The sequel Hollow City: The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine's Children was released January 14, 2014.
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