Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

I have been reading a good many Young Adult novels (series) lately.  I wish I had such a wide array of choices when I was a teen.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my Judy Bloom ;-).  Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs is such a wonderful read.  I thought it was imaginative and kept my attention from the first page to the last.  This is another Gothic type horror/fantasy that includes actual photographs in the novel to go along with the story.  I have to say that Riggs hit a goldmine with this, his debut novel.  

This novel opens with Jacob and his storytelling Grandfather Abraham.  Jacob has a keen interest in the photographs, and the stories behind them, that Abe shows him which are full of peculiar children.  (The invisible boy, levitating girl...)  These stories bonded the young boy and his grandfather.  Yet, years later, the gloss fades from the pictures (so to speak) for Jacob, and he starts to question the reality of the stories, photographs, and ....his grandfather. 

One night, a tragic event causes Jacob to travel to the small island where his Grandfather spent some of his youth after he lost his family to the horrors of Nazi Germany.  From the moment Jacob arrives in this small place called, Cairnholm, adventure and dark mystery await him.  Jacob comes face to face with situations and people he would never have thought existed in "the real world."  He becomes a part of the world he discovers, and forms friendships, joins conflict to become part of the "peculiar" family. 

The different realities of past and present, time travel, the unnaturalness of "peculiarities", are weaved together to make a great story.  This is a great tale of someone looking for belonging, and also trying to solve personal family mysteries.  The cliff hanger at the end has me ready for the next book in the series.  I highly recommend this to those who want a "different" type of read.  Let the imagination roam ....   *****

to see the book trailer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVegDhDxLeU

soon to come, the movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1935859/

to buy: http://www.amazon.com/Miss-Peregrines-Home-Peculiar-Children/dp/1594746036 

author's personal page: http://www.ransomriggs.com/