Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

I liked it. I liked the way Ransom Riggs put the photographs in the book. It wasn't too beleivable, though. It seems like it will be part of a series. The monsters were supposed to be scary, but they didn't really seem real, and it didn't seem like much of a horror story to me. I still liked it anyways.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, though marketed to teens, has found well-deserved popularity among adults as well.

The story, by Ransom Riggs, follows Jacob, a 16-year-old kid who’s unsure how he feels about just about everything. One thing he does love, though, is his grandfather and the stories he shares. When Jacob was a child, he believed the tales of the monsters who went after his grandfather and the island where he found safety. As a teen, though, Jacob can see that the photographs of the islands other inhabitants have been doctored, and he suspects the monsters his grandfather speaks of are really the Nazis.

Things change, though, when Jacob’s grandfather suddenly dies under mysterious circumstances– Jacob begins to wonder whether or not there are aspects of truth in his grandfather’s stories. He talks his father into traveling with him to the island where his grandfather had found refuge so that he can investigate and determine the truth.

The pages of the Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children are strewn with the photographs Jacob’s grandfather shared. The images, which are actual antique photographs that Riggs gathered from collectors, help add to the story’s creepy ambiance.

I recommend the book for anyone interested in a twist on the typical adventure story. It’s a bit slow-going at first, but by page 100, the story picks up, and you can’t put it down.

I loved the use of the strange vintage photographs. I also liked a lot of the peculiar children. I didn't like the "monsters" and found them unbelievable. I would not read a second book if the author decides to write a sequel.

I think my expectations for this book were a little high. I picked it up thinking it'd be a great young adult horror book, but it really wasn't scary at all. And the storyline wasn't all that original. Luckily the originality of the idea of incorporating the vintage photographs was a good distraction from the lack of interest in the story. I did enjoy the descriptions of the Welsh island, though. I think this would make a great movie, but I hope Tim Burton doesn't wind up doing it if only for his refusal to use real-life locations. You would lose so much of this story by not filming it on an actual Welsh island. In any case, it looks like the author's setting up to make this into a series, but I don't know if I'd be into it enough to continue reading. We'll see....