Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Prologue

I had just come to accept that my life would be ordinary when extraordinary things began to happen. The first of these came as a terrible shock and, like anything that changes you forever, split my life into halves: Before and After. Like many of the extraordinary things to come, it involved my grandfather, Abraham Portman.
     Growing up, Grandpa Portman was the most fascinating person I knew. He had lived in an orphanage, fought in wars, crossed oceans by steamship and deserts on horseback, performed in circuses, knew everything about guns and self-defense and surviving in the wilderness, and spoke at least three languages that weren t English. It all seemed unfathomably exotic to a kid who d never left Florida, and I begged him to regale me with stories whenever I saw him. He always obliged, telling them like secrets that could be entrusted only to me.
     When I was six I decided that my only chance of having a life half as exciting as Grandpa Portman s was to become an explorer. He encouraged me by spending afternoons at my side hunched over maps of the world, plotting imaginary expeditions with trails of red pushpins and telling me about the fantastic places I would discover one day. At home I made my ambitions known by parading around with a cardboard tube held to my eye, shouting, Land ho! and  Prepare a landing party! until my parents shooed me outside. I think they worried that my grandfather would infect me with some incurable dreaminess from which I d never recover that these fantasies were somehow inoculating me against more practical ambitions so one day my mother sat me down and explained that I couldn t become an explorer because everything in the world had already been discovered. I d been born in the wrong century, and I felt cheated.
     I felt even more cheated

Ransom Riggs

"This peculiar parable is pure perfection."--"Justine "magazine "A tense, moving, and wondrously strange first novel. The photographs and text work together brilliantly to create an unforgettable story."--John Green, "New York Times" best-selling author of "Looking for Alaska" and "Paper Towns" "With its "X-Men: First Class"-meets-time-travel story line, David Lynchian imagery, and rich, eerie detail, it's no wonder "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" has been snapped up by Twentieth Century Fox. B+"--"Entertainment Weekly " "'Peculiar' doesn't even begin to cover it. Riggs' chilling, wondrous novel is already headed to the movies."--"People" "[A] thrilling, Tim Burton-esque tale with haunting photographs."--"USA Today Pop Candy " "Readers searching for the next Harry Potter may want to visit "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.""--CNN "You'll love it if you want a good thriller for the summer. It's a mystery, and you'll race to solve it before Jacob figures it out for himself."--"Seventeen ""Riggs deftly moves between fantasy and reality, prose and photography to create an enchanting and at times positively terrifying story."--Associated Press "Got a tweener child with a taste for creepy horror and time-travel stories? Send them "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.""--McClatchy Wire Service "It's an enjoyable, eccentric read, distinguished by well-developed characters, a believable Welsh setting, and some very creepy monsters."-- "Publishers Weekly" " ""An original work that defies categorization, this first novel should appeal to readers who like quirky fantasies. Riggs includes many vintage photographs that add a critical touch of the peculiar to his unusual tale."--"Library Journal" "His premise is clever, and Jacob and the children are intriguing characters."--"Booklist" "Readers will find this book unique and intriguing."-- "School Library Journal

A tense, moving, and wondrously strange first novel. The photographs and text work together brilliantly to create an unforgettable story. John Green, New York Times best-selling author of Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns
 
Readers searching for the next Harry Potter may want to visit Miss Peregrine s Home for Peculiar Children. CNN

Riggs deftly moves between fantasy and reality, prose and photography to create an enchanting and at times positively terrifying story. Associated Press

I read all of the Miss Peregrine s Peculiar Children books and I loved them. Florence of Florence + The Machine

[A] thrilling, Tim Burton-esque tale with haunting photographs. USA Today Pop Candy

With its X-Men: First Class-meets-time-travel story line, David Lynchian imagery, and rich, eerie detail, it s no wonder Miss Peregrine s Home for Peculiar Children has been snapped up by Twentieth Century Fox. B+ Entertainment Weekly

Peculiar doesn t even begin to cover it. Riggs chilling, wondrous novel is already headed to the movies. People

You'll love it if you want a good thriller for the summer. It's a mystery, and you'll race to solve it before Jacob figures it out for himself. Seventeen

Delightfully weird. Good Housekeeping

One of the coolest, creepiest YA books. PopSugar