Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
2011
- orphanages
- graphic novels
- supernatural
- grandfathers
- teenage boys
- islands
- juvenile fiction
- mystery and detective stories
- fiction
- reading level-grade 9
The story
A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of peculiar photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, and 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 decaying bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that Miss Peregrine's 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. (Book cover)
What it’s like
Vintage found photographs carry this book's look: sepia-toned snapshots of children in odd poses, sea-bleached island ruins, and crumbling manor rooms lit by thin grey daylight that leaks through broken shutters. The prose is plain and quick, a sixteen-year-old's voice that pauses to describe a picture and then pulls the reader forward, so the rhythm alternates between brisk mystery and quiet, almost tactile looking. The sound is mostly wind over cliffs, creaking floorboards and the hush of an empty house, with a faint gothic unease in the background rather than jump-scare noise. Its vibe is wistful and eerie, a melancholy adventure with a warm undercurrent of friendship, best suited to a rainy afternoon or a cosy evening alone with a lamp on. The story follows a lonely teenager who finds a place where he belongs, with a steady build of wonder and suspense. Intensity is moderate: some peril, a few grim moments and an unsettling sense of death and loss, but no gore and little on-page brutality. It suits readers who enjoy atmospheric young-adult fantasy, illustrated-feeling mysteries and gentle spookiness, and it reads well for ages fourteen and up.
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