Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
By Ransom Riggs
4 ½ of 5 thumbs up
Jacob Portman was a young man with his future laid
before his feet. As an heir to a drug store empire, Jacob has gone
through the motions of life, without any excitement or aspirations of
his own. Growing up, Jacob was regaled with far-fetched
stories, and photographs, of his grandfather’s childhood and the
youngsters he grew up with. Many of these young friend’s had special
powers or talents (or so Jacob’s grandfather said) that Jacob believed
at first but as he grew older, knew that the accounts
must have been made up, and the fanciful pictures fabricated. It’s not
until the grisly murder of Jacob’s grandfather by an otherworldly
creature that Jacob decides to travel to Wales to attempt to sort out
his grandfather’s past.
The one aspect that makes this book such a delight
to read is the photographs. The author, Riggs, is a photograph
collector and initially intended to make this a picture book for
children, but instead gathered more pictures from a different
collector and developed a story around them. The photos are all
antique, black and white, and strange. Because of this, some of them are
extremely creepy.
Funny side-note: I read the eBook version on our
tablet and before a picture is shown, the text would end before reaching
the bottom of the screen and before the chapter felt like it was over,
so I knew when the photos were coming. I would
get so anxious about what photo that would pop up when I tapped the
screen that my heart would race and the pictures would sometimes startle
me. It was like waiting-for-the-toast- to-pop-up effect. (Trust me; I
know how ridiculous I am. Feel free to laugh
at my expense.)
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