Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

by Ransom Riggs

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. 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 were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive. (description from Amazon.com)

This was a deliciously creepy book.  It was not the type of scary that you get from watching a slasher movie...it was more the Alfred Hitchcock type.  Not only did the author come up with an interesting and somehow believable way tohave humans with paranormal powers exist, but also ways to have them remain hidden from the majority of the world. The true power of this book was that it was almost ordinary in its fantasticalness (yes, I just made up that word...forgive me, please). 

The most intriguing thing to me and what truly made this book work in the powerful way that it did, was the inclusion of the historical photographs.  That they images were actually from real life, whether manipulated in real life or not, just added another layer of mysterious authenticity to the story. 

I cannot wait to see what happens next.  I do hope that there is a follow-up book planned!