“I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was.”
16-year-old Jacob has always had a special bond with his grandfather Abe. As a child Jacob used to love hearing Abe’s fantastic tales of children who could fly or become invisible, and he vowed that when he grew up he too would see the wonders of the world. When Abe dies mysteriously, Jacob struggles to get over his loss. Soon Jacob finds an old letter which reveals clues about his grandfather’s past, and he travels to a small Welsh island where Abe grew up. In the ruins of Abe’s childhood home, he finds a collection of bizarre photos depicting the very children that Abe used to tell stories about. Strangely enough he also finds the children, alive and well despite being told that they had died years ago.
Miss Peregrine’s is a wonderful and inventive story, and at times quite creepy. Author Ransom Riggs beautifully blends fantasy and reality, and creates a world in which magic is real…and monsters are too. Riggs’ writing truly makes the characters and settings come alive, from the way he portrays Jacob as both a brave young man and a smart-alecky teen, to capturing the quaintness of the Welsh fishing village. But what really makes this book a treat are the photos. Riggs borrowed an assortment of amazing (and somewhat disturbing) black and white photos from antique collectors and included them in the book, making the story as real to the readers as it is to Jacob. The photos alone are worth the price of the book.
