Monday, June 4, 2012

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, sorry. I just had to get that out of the way 'cuz school's over. Now that I have three blissfully free months to do whatever the heck I want, you'll probably be getting updates earlier in the week. 'Specially when it's a really good book. Take this one, for example: started out slow but got to the point where I couldn't put it down. It was unique because it was full of photos to complement the words. Even cooler, though, is that it says all of those were pictures were compiled by the author and are real. Once you read the book, you'll see why that's cool. Mmmkay, here's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.
When Jacob was little, his grandfather would tell him wild stories of his youth--including hideous monsters and a secluded orphanage in which he said he had grown up. He spun tales of the children living there, telling about a levitating girl, a boy with bees in his stomach, a fire-holding child,  an invisible boy, and many others. Jacob believed these fantasies when he was little, but as he grew up he began to see them as simply fairy tales. All this changed when he's sixteen.
His grandfather had become seemingly more and more paranoid and senile, firmly sticking to his story of the orphanage and believing monsters were hunting him. When Jacob goes to check on him one day, however, he finds his grandfather attacked and dying and sees one of the "mythical" monsters himself. Shaken and needing answers, he travels to Europe where the orphanage supposedly was. When he gets there, it seems that the orphanage has long been abandoned. As Jacob explores its disused hallways, he finds more evidence that the peculiar children lived there, and also that their world was filled with more danger and mystery than seemed possible. On top of all of this, he finds--impossible though it seems-- that they may be still alive.
Yep. This is a really unique book, and I highly recommend reading it. It's amazing how the author was able to compile all those photos, and fit them into the book; it's really seamless. The writing keeps you guessing, and conceals some interesting surprises along the way. I would say it's an upper middle school to high school range of book. So, please? Go down to Kettleson or Mt. Edgecumbe? C'mon, it's summer! Ya got nothing better to do!

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