Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and 15 Day Book Blogger Challenge Part 8

Obviously, this is what appeals to me on book blogs!  I try and use a lot of these things myself! 🙂

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And 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 who once lived here – one of whom was his own grandfather – were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a desolate island for good reason.

And somehow – impossible though it seems – they may still be alive.

This book was published in 2011, I’m very much behind the crowd!  But I saw this on the Lucky Day Shelf at my library and felt that it was about time that I picked it up to read!

Riggs’ writing corresponded with the pictures in the book quite well.  The story came alive in a way that illustrations limit.  I thought that his dialog was strategically placed and moved the story along while allowing our protagonist time to explain things.  The entire book was incredibly whimsical, and at times creepy, but it was all part of the fun and overall amazing feel of the book.

Riggs’ plot begins in a way that allows him to explain the history that leads to the rising action.  The entire thing was fast paced yet plenty slow enough for the simple moments.  The ending was wonderful, finishing up the story while allowing for the reader’s mind to wonder.

Riggs described his setting in enticing ways, perfectly grasping the feel for the island, making it realisitc and yet so much like a fairytale.  The entire hidden worlds that he invented fitted with common folklore and was able to still be it’s own.  

Jacob starts off very awkward, tossing aside his Grandfather’s stories as rubbish, and yet not being able to let them go.  He continues to evolve into someone brave, as well as a person who won’t look behind.    Jacob always seemed very real to me, and in the end,   

Emma is a girl so literally stuck in time.  She is confident, stubborn, and yet very compassionate.  She allows herself to forgive and move on, opening new doors that had never been there before.

Abe isn’t actually in the book in person very much, and yet his an object brought up so frequently it feels like he is.  We come to know that Abe was very restless, and while he surely cared for Emma, he was never satisfied when not off fighting with monsters.

Riggs allowed all the Peculiar Children their own personalties, making them bounce up through the story and pictures.  It’s a sensation so literally like watching a movie in my head is astonishing.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is a mixture of history and fantasy, pictures and words.  This is one of the most professionally pleasing books that I’ve read in a long time.

~Rem