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

Title: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Author: Ransom Riggs

Release Date: June 7^th, 2011

Publisher: Quirk

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 348

Source: Finished Copy from Publisher (thanks so much!)

Summary (goodreads.com):

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.

My Review:

This book is so great. The art for this book is truly phenomenal. The story is refreshingly original and is made even more special by the vintage photographs that accompany many of the descriptions provided for the characters. I find that those photographs really helped make this book more than just a story and into a quite touching and mysterious novel. It also helped my imagination fully form those characters in my mind. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children doesn’t ever need to be made into a film because with the aid of those pictures I pictured it better than any movie director ever could (very high praise that). Jacob meets these monsters early in the story’s plot and there was a drawing of it to accompany the encounter, I immediately pictured an OOD from Doctor Who (which complicated my imagination a bit since these monsters are actually bad and the Ood are adorable). I could go on and on about this book, but I’ll spare you. RUN to your local bookstore or library and get this book even if it is just for the art (however once you see the art you’ll be curious about the story behind them, so it’s a win-win)!