Review - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

by: Ransom Riggs

Available from Amazon and 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.

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I'm unsure where to even begin on this one. This book is amazing all around. The cover is haunting, deliciously creepy. Nothing scarier than creepy kids, right?

This book isn't about scary kids, they are peculiar however. Each with their own special power. Jacob thinks he is ordinary, but he has the same power as his grandfather, and that makes him invaluable to Miss Peregrine, the caretaker of all the children.

The book is full of vintage photographs that are all eery in their own way. One thing that usually gets people is that no one smiles. Well the reason for that is simple - they didn't have point and shoot cameras, usually you had to hold your pose for awhile. Try standing with a smile plastered on your face for 15 minutes and see how great you look! ;)

What I really want to know is if Riggs found the photographs after writing the story, or wrote the story around the photographs. They tie into the story, which was an amazing and thrilling tale of Jacob helping out his grandfather's old friends...children he didn't even believe were real.

The pace is perfect, I hated to put this book down and cleared pages without even noticing. I slowed down at the end because...and don't laugh...I didn't want to finish the book. Certainly you've read a tale that you loved so much you didn't want to reach the end? This is one for me. Yes it is going into my permanent library so I can read it again, and enjoy the scrapbook that this truly is.

Seriously - buy this book - it's amazing!