Riggs, Ransom. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Philadelphia, Quirk Books, 2011, 352.

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children is an outstandingly unique and extremely well-written story by Ransom Riggs. My first opinion of this book was seeing the cover and thinking “How strange must that book be?” but, after reading it I can say it is still quite a strange book but I adore it nonetheless.

You meet an ordinary teen named Jacob Portman who lives what he sees as the most typical and boring life imaginable. That is, until his entire world is flipped upside-down and sideways when he finds his grandpa dead in the woods behind his house. From then on, his life falls into a spiral of definitely unordinary events, including traveling to a small island in the U.K. in search of the children’s home his grandfather always told him stories about, actually finding the home, and all the peculiar children who had unnatural abilities.

The main characters are Jacob Portman and Emma Bloom, love interests who meet in a quite strange situation, and at first, don’t feel strongly about one another, but as the story builds, so do their feelings and love. Jacob is awkward but brave and loyal while Emma is fiery and bold. Personally, my favorite character is Enoch O’Connor, the dead-riser who can bring life to something that used to be alive but isn’t anymore or give life to something that's never had it. He is sheltered and anti-social. Even though it doesn’t seem like it, he truly does care about those around him.

I absolutely adored this book and Ransom’s writing style. Something that seemed right but just wasn’t quite normal for some reason. I really recommend this book to those who love adventure and stories that leave you on the edge of your seat. I’ve truly never read a book quite like this and really enjoyed it. I hope you give it a read sometime if you haven’t already.