Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs | Book Review

(Look at her feet!)

What a fantastic book!  I'm absolutely kicking myself for not reading it years ago when it first came out.  The good news is that I get to go straight into Hollow City.  :)  This book has it ALL:  pictures--real pictures (photographs), history/historical fiction, paranormal people, and mystery!  Yup--ALL of it.  My mind was blown.

Pictures!  I like pictures in books, but that's much more common in non-fiction than fiction, so it's always a pleasant surprise to find pictures.  These are replications of actual photographs from the turn of the last century.  I've read other reviews that said that the children in the photos were "creepy."  The photos are a little dark, and the kids aren't smiling, but that's not unusual for the time when they were taken.  I loved the pictures.  And I read this on my black-and-white Kindle and the pictures were super clear, even in daylight!

History!  The book is told from the point of view of Jacob, a modern teen.  But Jacob has a really good relationship with his grandfather, who tells him stories of growing up in a children's home in WWII Wales, and shows Jacob pictures of the "peculiar" children he grew up with.  Jacob does some extra digging into this grandfather's past on his own and learns that he had to flee Poland as a child and live in the children's home because he was Jewish.  Then he joined the British army and fought in WWII before eventually coming to settle in America.  After his grandfather passes away, Jacob travels to Wales with his father and find the children from his grandfather's past are still alive and well... and still children.  I don't want to give anything away, but there's even more history once Jacob encounters the children from Miss Peregrine's Home!

Paranormal People!  The book title mentions this:  the children living in Miss Peregrine's Home (group home) are "peculiar."  Again, don't want to give anything away... Oh, but I can assure you that none of the characters are vampires.  It's not that kind of paranormal.

Mystery!  Jacob's grandfather dies an unexpected death, and Jacob is the only witness.  When he tries to explain what happened, his family and friends assume that he's lost his mind and don't believe him.  What Jacob finds in Wales may vindicate him...

Such a fantastic book!  I can't wait to read the sequel.  I can't believe it took me so long to finally read this!

One of the fantastic photos from the book (there's many more!):