Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

by Ransom Riggs

This was a refreshingly different read. Riggs combines contemporary and historical fiction, mystery, children with paranormal abilities, and (extremely creepy) found photographs to create something a bit off the beaten track, book-wise. The main character, Jacob, thought that all of his grandfather’s stories about monsters and children with peculiar abilities were just that – stories. Until the night he finds his grandfather torn apart and dying in the woods – and sees something he can’t explain. His grandfather’s last words send Jacob on a quest to the little island off Wales where his grandfather grew up in an orphanage – the setting for all of those crazy stories. From that point on, nothing is as he expects or even as it seems. The story is both haunting and compelling, and the photographs make the cast of characters at Miss Peregrine’s Home seem real. Riggs manages to find that balance between the unexpected and predictability, so that you never feel lost while reading but the story still holds some surprises. I’m very interested to see what happens in the second book, due out in 2014.
 

I give it 4/5 stars.