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.