Review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Title: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Author: Ransom Riggs
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Quirk
Publish Date: June 7, 2011
Source: Library

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs.

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."

My Two Cents:

"Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" is a book that I have been wanting to read for a while. I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but this cover is hard to miss. You have a hovering little girl in black and white standing on the front cover. It was just begging me to read it!

In this book, Jacob grows up hearing fantastical stories from his grandfather who lived in Europe during World War II. Jacob doesn't think anything of his grandfather's stories besides just being entertaining. When Jacob's grandfather dies a mysterious death, Jacob begins to think that his grandfather stories are real. Jacob and his father traveled to Wales where he tries to put together the pieces of his grandfather's past.

I really enjoyed the story and it's easy to see why the series is being turned into movies. The story line is very original. You have Jacob initially believing that his grandfather's stories were a way for him to come to terms with all of the terrible things that he faced during the war. He was sent to a remote island in order to hopefully be saved from WWII.

I love the characters in this book! It was so interesting to see how Jacob begins to put things together. I loved all of their children in Miss Peregrine's Home as well as Miss Peregrine herself. I think one of the standout things about this book is the world building. It has a lot of fantastical elements but the way that the author puts it together makes them feel like they could possibly be real.

Another thing that I really liked about the book is that it includes photographs of various characters. All of the photographs came from vintage collections. I thought that they lended a really nice and kind of creepy air to the book. It also made it feel a little bit real. I'm looking forward to reading the other books in the series.