Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is a very fun and interesting read. It is a story about a teenager named Jacob who through a series of strange events comes to realize that the stories his Grandfather used to tell him as a child are in fact true. Up until now, Jacob always assumed that the stories his Grandfather told him about the home he grew up in - a home run by Miss Peregrine and full of children with peculiar gifts - were just that...stories.

After his Grandfather is murdered, Jacob finding himself questioning everything, including his own sanity. Armed with the few clues his Grandfather has left him, Jacob sets off to find the mysterious Miss Peregrine and her peculiar children. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - the narrative is well written and engaging, but what really adds to the story are the photographs scattered throughout the book. According to Ransom Riggs, these photographs are real - found by collectors who scour estate sales and flea markets - and only a small few have undergone any alterations. The pictures add a sense of reality to the story, after all, "seeing is believing." But more than that, they provide a true contrast of the worlds Jacob travels between - the present day and 1940s. Even separated from the story, the pictures are in and of themselves an interesting collection. Ransom Riggs is a collector as well, and often posts some of his more interesting finds on his blog, which I encourage you to check out (click here).

The book is left wide open for a sequel, which Riggs has already announced is forthcoming, and I will be interested to see where the story goes and what new images he will find to include. The film rights have also been purchased, and if it ever comes to the big screen I will be excited to see if they are able to capture the feeling of Jacob's two realities and the wondrous characters who reside in them.