Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, written by Ransom Riggs, has been a #1 New York Times best-seller and has been on the New York Times Best Seller List for 52 consecutive weeks.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is considered a fantasy novel with a total of 352 pages and 13 chapters. The book incorporates old vintage photos that add a truth to the story. The novel is recommended to any young adult or teenager for either gender.
Sixteen year old Jacob Portman has had a close connection with his grandfather throughout his life. As a child, his grandfather would tell him stories of an enchanted house for orphans on an Island he was sent to before World War II. He told stories about a flying girl, an invisible boy, and a girl who could create a flame with her hands. Then, when Jacob didn’t fully believe his grandfather’s stories, he showed him pictures that gained his belief.
With age, Jacob began to realize that these stories could never be true, and declared them as just silly fairytales and the photos for “proof” could’ve just easily been manipulated to show something untrue.
As Jacob’s grandfather grows older, he fears horrible monsters are after him and his family believes he lost his mind. Then one day as Jacob leaves work to check on him, he finds his grandfather dead in the woods and Jacob is the only one who saw the true killer — the monster his grandfather feared.
The aftermath of his grandfather’s death disconnects Jacob with his best friend and the outside world. Jacob never leaves his house because feared the monster that killed his grandfather would soon be after him.
While trying to find answers to what truly killed his grandfather, Jacob finds clues to the location of the enchanted house from his grandfather’s childhood. His parents finally give in to his begging and he goes on a journey to the island that is located off the coast of Wales with his father to discover the truth.
After the truth is unveiled, Jacob is hit with the realization that he is also peculiar like the children in grandfather’s “fairytales.” Since these magical stories were true, then the monsters his grandfather spoke of must be true too. Jacob’s ability to see these monsters could help save Miss Peregrine and the peculiar children, but he’d have to leave behind the life he has known and the family that has always loved him. He is then forced to make the decision to continue in his average life, or live with other peculiars like himself.
Riggs is also a filmmaker who lives in California. This is his first novel, which was published in 2011, and is the first in the series. His second book, Hollow City, is next in the Miss Peregrine series and came out on January 14th, 2014. His second book, Hollow City, is the next to read in the Miss Peregrine series and came out on January 14th, 2014. Riggs is also a blogger and travel writer, he has written travel essays, Strange Geographies that can be found at ransomriggs.com.
Some of his other books published are The Sherlock Holmes Handbook and Talking Pictures.
