Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

solid YA book. the writing is good, especially for a high level 8-9th grade, mid level 10th, and just for fun 11th and up.

the story is what we are used to at this point in YA: kid with a boring life discovers something magical about himself and that monsters really exist and it's up to him to save the world. the details are fairly inventive and original. or at least i can't think of a direct corollary at the moment, but what sets this book apart from others are the photos.

apparently there are people who sort through mountains of old photographs at flea markets and the like culling the truly exceptional images. ransom riggs knows some of these people and uses these photos throughout the book. they are truly a neat addition. though pictures and images are becoming more common in non-picture book fiction (foer's extremely close and incredibly loud for instance), this seems to me to be a fairly unique use.

anywho, if you like YA it's worth a peek.

This book got rave reviews, and I must say I really enjoy the structure, with all the photographs and letters - it's made even cooler by knowing that all of the photographs are real. I've got to say, though, that it didn't quite live up to its hype. It was intriguing and I read it straight through, but it was also surprisingly predictable and there wasn't nearly as much depth as I thought there would be. Overall, enjoyable, but not a must-read. (Plus points for having a romance in a YA novel that wasn't mind-numbing, though!)

It's a good, quick YA read.

This book was a nice little trip down memory lane & one of the more notable books that made up my 7th-grade year
I haven't decided if I like the book or the movie better... anyways, if you're looking for a book about the strange and unusual, time travel, and one with interesting vintage photos, then this is the book for you. Just know it might not be as fast-paced or scary as expected...

This series has caught my eye for a while, especially when the movie came out. I've been hesitant to pick it up because I'm not typically one for the horror genre. I joined a buddy read which gave me the push I needed to read it.    Jacob grew up listening to his grandfather's stories of the peculiar children he knew growing up. As he got older, he discredited his tales as fiction. Never could he have imagined one of those stories coming to fruition and taking his grandfather's life. No one believes his own story now, thinking him traumatized and mentally unwell.    Jacob believes the answer to his nightmares lies in his grandfather's stories. He convinces his parents to allow him to take a trip to England where his grandfather lived during World War II. There, he ends up finding the portal into the past.    I was surprised by how absorbed I got into the book. Yet, whenever I put it down, I didn't find myself thinking about it. My interest was mostly in the beginning, however. By the end, I was weirded out by the relationship between Jacob and Emma's relationship. While I could anticipate the book ending on a cliffhanger given there are other books that follow, I was a little annoyed as I don't feel invested enough to jump immediately into book two. 

3.5* rounded up to 4: I read this because I'd enjoyed the film. I was hoping for a bit of expansion but there's not much more than was portrayed on screen. I found it written well enough to keep me reading and absolutely loved the photographs. I'm hoping the next couple of books will keep up the gothic/creepy themes and not fall into the teenage romance-type YA fiction.

felt like nothing even happened until like 300 pages in
and dont get me started on the fucking instalove

I honestly loved this book. I never lost my intrest and constently wanted the book to never end.

An interesting idea with likable characters that I wanna learn more about in the sequels. So far, I'm still waiting for a BAAAM. So let's see if the other books will surprise me!

This book was a lot of fun to read. I haven't read an engaging page-turner like this in a while. It's just the kind of fantasy novel I like and the first person perspective really kept me involved in the story. The author's descriptions of settings, people, and the old photographs made it easy to visualize his world. I'm already diving into the second book.

I had written an entire review of this, but I'm a dumbass and accidentally deleted it... so basically all I'm going to say is: I liked the movie better (and y'all can go off on me in the comments idc) and the book was kind of a let down in comparison. I believe that had the pacing of this book been better and it had been closer to the movie I would've enjoyed this much more.

I really liked this book and this authors writing style. I'm really glad I read it and I really enjoyed looking at the vintage photos. I love the authors idea for using photos to come up with ideas for his writing.

I really like that this book is unique and not a standard story line I've seen done many times before with slight variations. This whole book is NEW and great. I loved every bit of it, especially the funny things the main character says and I plan to keep this series in my permanent library.

Restarted this once I watched the movie and just skipped over the pictures this time, making it much more enjoyable for me!

It is practically impossible to say anything about Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children
without spoiling even the tiniest plot, so I will keep this one short. If you need a modern Gothic tale, full of fascinating characters - Alma Peregrine is such an intriguing figure- , myths, fantasy, action, vintage photos and whatnot, then you should read Ransom Riggs' first installment of the saga.

Took me a while to get into, but the second half was fantastic!
And the photos really helped the story! All the descriptions wouldn't have been the same.

I greatly enjoyed this book. The photographs enhance the writing in a unique way. Very excited for the film version.

Well-written, interesting story, and I loved the photographs woven into the story. But this book was absolutely nothing like I was led to believe. I thought it was supposed to be a horror novel and it was anything but. Sure, some of the pictures were creepy, but that was it. The stories behind the photographs weren't scary in the least. I feel like I would have liked this book a lot more if I were a few years younger. A good book, but the description and cover are very misleading and I would not have read it if I had known what it would actually be about.

The beginning was interesting but the further into the book i got the less interesting it became.

I really liked this book. Can't wait to start the next one.

Ransom Riggs had een hele reeks weirde foto's verzameld, en dacht die uit te geven in een prentenboek. En dan zei iemand bij de uitgever dat het misschien wel leutig zou zijn om een verhaal bij de foto's te hebben, en voor ge 't weet is er Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: een avonturenboek over een jongen die zijn grootvader verliest.

De grootvader vertelde zijn kleinzoon over zijn jeugd lang geleden, in een tehuis met allemaal vreemde kinderen, maar het klonk allemaal als wilde verhalen en sprookjes, en het is pas als de grootvader (ondertussen heel oud, en iedereen denkt dat hij een vijs verloren is) gedood wordt door wat de mensen zeggen wilde honden geweest te zijn, maar waar zowel grootvader als kleinzoon een soort wezen met tentakels als tongen gezien hebben, dat de kleinzoon er weer in gelooft.

Of niet. Want: volgen lange therapiesessies voor de kleinzoon, en natuurlijk kan het geen écht monster geweest zijn.

En dan puzzelt de kleinzoon de laatste woorden van zijn grootvader bij mekaar, nadat hij een boek erft waar een brief in zit, en gaat hij op zoek naar het tehuis.

Een schoon klein boekje, vond ik. En spannend ook. En ik had er geen flauw idee van dat het échte (hier en daar minimaal aangepaste) foto's zijn in het boek, ik dacht dat het speciaal gemaakte foto's waren. Toen ik dat uiteindelijk doorhad, ben ik nog eens herbegonnen, en het boek voelde meteen helemaal anders aan.

Aangeraden voor jong en oud, en het zou me verbazen als hier geen film of tv-reeks van komt.

I've had this on my to-read list for a long time so I was happy to finally have the chance (see: motivation) to read it. I'm glad I did. The book starts out as a typical ghost story and got me pretty worked up until you find out that it's more a time-travel epic and there aren't really ghosts at all. It gets a bit over-the-top in some areas but as it's mostly about time and magic, that's to be expected. One of the best parts is that it's inspired by the included vintage photographs the author has collected over the years so the visual really helps cement the story in the reader's mind. I've always enjoyed looking at found photographs, especially bizarre or creepy photos from the past as most of the included photographs are. I can't wait to finish the sequel.

I really enjoyed this book and was sad when it ended. I would love to read a follow up to know what happens to the children.

Creepy and Weird

Sometimes the story is hard to follow and the romance is...almost incestuous. But it's still fun to travel with Jacob and learn that the fairy stories he believed as a child were real. There were a few times I had to turn over in bed so my back could be next to a pillow and I could see the door (things I do when I'm creeped out).

The pictures are amazing. I was always looking forward to the next one. They add a good number of the creep factor and make up for characterizations the plot does not handle. There are so many characters that it is hard to keep track of who is whom, but the pictures make that a little easier.

I feel bad for not really having anything else to say about this book. It's good, but not amazing. It's creepy but not scary. It is very, very weird, though. So, there's that. Looking forward to the next one, but not falling out of my chair to buy it.