Book Title: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Topic: Finding Oneself , Supernatural
Thoughts: When I picked up this novel, I thought I would read
all types of supernatural stories about strange children. I did in a way,
but the story line of Jacob trying to find out who he really is pulled me in. I
also like how Riggs intersperses the story with pictures of characters that he
refers to. You decide for yourself if they are real or not.
Jacob is a loner who has never traveled anywhere or
seen anything extraordinary. He enjoys listening to stories his
grandfather tells him about growing up as an orphan on an island during World
War II. One night a monster, only Jacob can see, kills his grandfather.
Everyone tells him he is crazy except his psychiatrist who tells him he needs
to visit the island his grandfather spoke of to find out if the stories are
true.
When Jacob first meets the peculiar children, I
thought it was another one of those dreams characters have and then wake up at
the end of the novel. This is not like that at all. Jacob visits
with Miss Peregrine and the children during the day and goes back to his father
and the pub in the evenings, until the monsters begin closing in.
What teenager does not want to escape his or her
ordinary life, graduate high school as soon as possible, and live life the way
he or she wants? Once you live on your own, your old life will be
impossible to capture again.
As I say in class, "Your idea of normal is not
the same as everyone else in class." Hopefully after reading this
novel, you will think people's peculiarities are cool like Jacob does and will
be willing to accept others for their peculiarity instead of shunning them.
