Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #1)

by Ransom Riggs

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. 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.

• ISBN10: 1594744769
• ISBN13: 9781594744761
• Publish Date: 7 June 2011 (first published 1 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Quirk Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781594744761

Reviews

[stressedrach]

What can I say about Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children? WOW. I absolutely loved it!!!
From the very beginning I was drawn into it and could not put it down.

Jacob tragically lost his grandfather who used to tell him about the peculiar children and Miss Peregrine when Jacob was small but as Jacob grew he thought these were just tall tales. He was so distressed with the loss of his grandfather that Jacob and his dad take a trip to Wales to try and sort his head out.
This is where the adventure began. I do not want to say anymore as it would spoil the story, but it is fantastic.
The way the story is written was fantastic, the old photographs throughout the book were amazing and really helped with the imagination. The descriptions of the different people down to the small things were brilliant. It was as if I were there too.

It was left open for the next adventure which I am eagerly waiting for it to be released.

While I was reading this my husband kept stopping asking me what was happening, he was very interested in the book although he does not read himself. He said to me this would make a fantastic movie.
Little did we know at the time of reading it, that is was in fact being made into a movie, and we cannot wait to watch that either!

[Angie]

I've been really excited to finally read Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and it did not disappoint...for the most part. I was immediately drawn in by Jacob's grandfather's story of his childhood at a strange orphanage on a mysterious island. How much of those stories was actually true is something Jacob isn't sure about until his grandfather passes away and his last words send Jacob to the island where he grew up. Once there he begins to unearth the secrets of old orphanage and learns more about his grandfather than he's ever known.

Mixed into the story are eerie photographs of the peculiar children who resided at this orphanage. Many of them are just old photographs, but some are quite odd, and a few are down right creepy. There were a couple that honestly gave me bad dreams, but I am easy to spook. Unfortunately, about halfway through the book the photographs are very sparse and the story changes from one that was super intriguing to one that was a bit lackluster.

The mystery surrounding the orphanage and Jacob's grandfather's stories are all revealed by the halfway mark. After that we get to observe Jacob getting to know the peculiar children, which was interesting, but then the tone shifts. It goes from a creepy mystery to a monster hunt of sorts. I wasn't really interested in any of that, but it just kept going and going. Finally at the end we're left with this notion of "leapfrogging" through time and grand adventures, which grabbed my attention again, but by then it was too late since the novel was over.

This one started out so amazing, but then it just dropped off at the end. I'm a bit disappointed.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

The first few pages of this novel creeped me out enough to not want to read it at night. Once I got past that, the novel really sucked me in. The unique design of the book, using old photos and elegantly styled chapter start/end pages, add to the detail of the story.

Note this is the 2nd novel in less than a month that I've read that has attempted to explain the Tunguska Event in 1908.

[violetpeanut]

In general, I liked this book. It was entertaining and the photos were really interesting.

You must go into this realizing that it is not a horror story, not "spine-tingling" as the product descriptions would have you believe, or even all that creepy. You must also go into this understanding that it is written for young adults - the younger end of "young adult" in my opinion.

Knowing those things allows you to enjoy it for what it is. It's a story about some children with some amazing X-Men like abilities. It has some fun elements and has some components of mystery and adventure. At it's deepest level it's a story about family - family relationships, loss, how you define family. It also explores (a little bit) the nature of time and it's effect on us.

There were a couple of things that took away from the story. First, as others have mentioned, the relationship between Jacob and Emma is a little creepy (and not in a scary way). Second, I did not particularly care for the villains in this book. I didn't think the parts of the story pertaining to their origin were explained well and were a little confusing. In general, they were not believable monsters to me. I understand that this is fantastical fiction but even fantasy creatures should have some ring of truth to them and I just didn't feel that here. It seemed a little cheesy to me rather than scary.

All in all, this book was entertaining enough for me to ignore the faults and I would be interested in reading more if this turns into a series.

[rakesandrogues]

I knew I had to read this book the moment I watched the book trailer for MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN. I heard about this book waaaay back. I’m pretty sure I saw Quirk Books promoting the novel during BEA, and I’m kicking myself for not getting a copy way back then. I finally had a chance to pick it up from my library because I just couldn’t wait until I got a copy of my own.

First of all, let me just say that I read this on e-book format (hangs head in shame). I don’t usually have a problem with e-books, but I think that this is the kind of book that’s just better to have in print. Mostly because of the photographs. I think that the photographs do still come out nicely in e-ink, but I do think that they lose quality. With that said, the pictures were the perfect complement to the novel. I love how the photographs were found at a flea market and used to help tell a story. The photographs made up a majority of the creep factor of the novel, especially because I know that they are actually real pictures.

I thought this book would give me nightmares. I thought it would be the kind that would prevent me from turning the lights off at night. On one hand, because I am such a scaredy cat, I am glad that it wasn’t that scary. Just a little bit creepy. But on the other hand, I’m a bit disappointed. At least the title of the book has it right. The novel isn’t about Jacob meeting scary children. It’s about peculiar children – and they are indeed peculiar with their unusual talents.

So these peculiar children with special talents are whisked away to live in a house with Miss Peregrine. The concept reminds me a bit of X-Men and the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, but these kids are not superheroes. So yeah, similarities are pretty minimal (not to mention the fact that my X-Men knowledge is extremely limited to the movies) but I thought that it was an interesting comparison. You may agree or disagree.

I do need to comment on Riggs’s writing. Let me just say it flat out: he likes to use big words. I don’t have a problem with big words per se, but it did make me question the audience for MISS PEREGRINE’S. Is this an adult novel in the guise of YA? Or is this a YA novel that just uses really big words? (Did that even make any sense?) In the end, I decided that I was clearly underestimating the YA genre. Why can’t an author use big words? We take SATs! It’s great to see these vocab words actually in use. I’m not going to insult the intelligence of YA readers. But on the chance that you do stumble upon a word that you don’t recognize, it only takes 2 seconds to google the definition.

For the most part, I thought the novel was so-so. The plot moved a bit slow as Jacob runs around the island trying to uncover secrets about Miss Peregrine and the children. It was interesting, but not compelling as I thought it would be. However, at the climax of the novel, there was a part that made me go, OMG WHAT JUST HAPPENED?! I did not see it coming. The shock factor is what pushed my rating of MISS PEREGRINE’S from a 3-star book to a 4-star book. I’m not going to go deep into it because I’d hate to spoil it for you. Just be warned.

I was satisfied with the ending of MISS PEREGRINE’S. It does leave off with some questions as to what will happen next, but it wasn’t so much of a cliffhanger that makes me want to read the sequel right at this second. I will probably pick up the sequel when it comes out in 2013, but I can be quite patient about it.

I would recommend it to those who want a moderately spooky read. Just don’t look at the pictures for too long, or you’ll definitely get creeped out.

[jeannamichel]

Almost every child is told nonsense stories from their grandparents. Jacob never dreamed that the stories he was told as a boy would be real. When his grandfather is murdered, Jacob visits the island from his grandpa’s stories to help him cope with the death. The island has a personality of its own and if Jacob takes the wrong step, he may end up in a loop, or much worse: get killed by a monster.

This book is fantastic. If you are picking out your list of books to read during Halloween or October, this novel better be there because if the plot doesn’t freak you out, the pictures will give you nightmares. This book is so strange. I loved every minute of it. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is a unique novel with creepy pictures that go along with the storyline. The thing that got me was that most of the pictures (look to the last page or so for more information) are authentic; they are donated pictures. That just made the creepy factor much stranger.

The plot was good. It wasn’t great, due to some of the relationship issues with two of the characters (I’ll get to that later on). It began with Jacob’s boring life in his hometown, which was a bit slow. The pace picked up real fast when the grandfather passed away, so do not put the book down! I loved the idea of loops, which is another word for time traveling. The whole book was so original that Riggs should get an award for being so imaginative. The only thing that had me grossed out a bit was the relationship with Jacob and Emma. At first I couldn’t really stand it, but I took on the characters’ perspectives and decided that it wasn’t all bad. I don’t want to give much away because I want to hear your opinion on their relationship. If you’ve read the book, what did you fell about Emma and Jacob?

Ransom Riggs is amazing. He created this entire visual journey that told a great story. I don’t know how this book will translate to audio CD, but it will be interesting to see it come to life. And, good news, there will be a sequel. Riggs has confirmed on his website that he plans for a second novel. His writing was fantastic and he knew exactly how to conduct his novel in a way to make it so strange that his readers will be coming back for more every time.

[kimbacaffeinate]

Unique. It is the story of Jacob, whose grandfather told him bizarre tales of his youth. As a 16yr old, Jacob no longer believes his grandfather's tales, until something terrible happens to his grandfather and he is forced to view things differently. The book is laced with weird old photographs,that the author has woven into this wonderful tale.

[tellemonstar]

A fantasticaly written book. The story grabs you and pulls you in very quickly - you really can't wait to find out what happens next. Quirky, entertaining, just slightly creepy. The photos are particularly effective and in some cases a bit creepy. Highly recommended for anyone wanting a not-to-long change of scene in their reading and don't mind putting aside reality just a little. A great young-adult fiction for anyone aged 12 and over.

[empressbrooke]

Totally delightful and charming. It's not quite what I had expected it to be from the synopsis, but that's okay. I loved the use of real-life unusual photographs that the author framed his story around - the book wouldn't have been the same without them.