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A haunting and out-of-the-ordinary read, debut author Ransom Riggs' first-person narration is convincing and absorbing, and every detail he draws our eye to is deftly woven into an unforgettable whole. interspersed with photos throughout, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is a truly atmospheric novel with plot twists, turns, and surprises that will delight readers of any age.
— Amazon Company's Praise for the Book.[src]

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is the first book in hexalogy about the peculiar young Jacob Portman, written by Ransom Riggs. It was released on June 7, 2011 in the United States, later in that same year the graphic version of this novel was released but only in English and a film based on it was made in 2016 under the direction of Tim Burton.[1]

This book is one of the best-selling and translated in the history of Jacob Portman, since according to the official website of Ransom Riggs this book has been translated into more than 40 languages which has been a great achievement for the book and the series in general.[2] Thanks to his excellent work on this novel Riggs was awarded several important awards such as the Goodreads Prize in 2011 in two different categories, something that the author never imagined.

Although Ransom Riggs never saw himself writing a book since he had never done so, at the suggestion of his publisher he decided to write it, since his original idea was to create an album with the vernacular photographs he had.[3] Although Ransom was a beginner in the world of writing, the novel when it was launched into the literary market was a great success and caused great impact among the literary community, which is why it became a New York Times bestseller. It peaked at #1 on the Children's Books chart on April 29, 2011 after being on the chart for 45 weeks, continuing there until May 20 when it dropped to fourth place, but it wasn't until September 9, 2012 that the book was definitively dropped off the chart after a total of 63 weeks of being on it.

Characters[]

Settings[]

There are 3 settings in the following order:

  1. Englewood, Florida in Sarasota County
  2. Present Cairnholm, Wales
  3. Past Cairnholm, Wales on September 3 1940

Synopsis[]

It is a story of a boy, Jacob Portman, who, following a horrific family tragedy, follows clues that take him to an abandoned children's home on a Welsh island. The story is told through a combination of narrative and vernacular photographs from the personal archives of collectors listed by the author.

Plot[]

Prologue[]

Jacob Portman begins the story by informing the reader that when he was younger, his grandfather, Abraham Portman, had told him "fairy tales" about an island his grandpa had stayed on. The island was occupied by children with peculiar abilities, and Abraham had the photos to prove it. Unfortunately, Jacob repeated these stories to his elementary school class and was bullied for believing in "fairy tales", so Jacob told his grandpa that his stories were fake, and they never talked about the subject again.

Summary[]

Jacob, now fifteen, gets a call at the pharmacy where he works; it's his Grandpa Abe, and he's frantically searching for the key to his gun cabinet, yelling that he isn't safe and that "the monsters" have found him. Jacob phones his friend Ricky to drive him to Grandpa Abe's house. When they arrive the pair finds the house in a state of disaster. Jacob runs into the woods out back and finds his Grandpa brutally injured. On the brink of death, Grandpa Abe tells Jacob to "Find the bird. In the loop. On the other side of the old man's grave. September third, 1940, Emerson - the letter." He then dies of his injuries. While Jacob holds his grandfather he sees a dark, monstrous figure with black eyes and tentacles flowing from its mouth; it then disappears into the darkness. Jacob then passes out.

As Jacob mourns his grandfather's death, the police conclude that Abe was mauled by wild animals. Jacob tells numerous people, including the authorities, about the creature he saw in the woods, but no one believes him. Jacob suffers from nightmares and is assigned a therapist called Dr. Golan. Dr. Golan diagnoses Jacob with acute stress disorder, much to his anger. Jacob even has a falling-out with his only friend, Ricky. On his sixteenth birthday, his aunt Susan hands him a present she believes is from his Grandpa Abe. The present is the selected works of Ralph Waldo Emerson with a note from his grandfather and a letter addressed to Abe from a woman named Alma LeFay Peregrine. He finds that the letter is from Cymru Wales, Cairnholm.

Jacob pleads with his parents to allow him to travel to Cairnholm in order to discover more about his Grandpa's past. At first, they are very dismissive of the idea, but Dr. Golan insists it will be good for his mental health.

Jacob and his father Frank then travel to the island of Cairnholm for three weeks and stay at the Priest Hole (a small pub and inn). Jacob spends the first few days exploring the island, and he meets the island's museum executive, Martin, who shows him the famous "bog man", an ancient body recovered from the bog. He ventures through the forest and finds the large home where his grandfather used to live during the war, and he discovers from a few locals that the home and its residents were destroyed in a German air raid in 1940. Jacob begins to feel hopeless but is determined to return to the house and look around more in-depth. One morning he awakens to find a peregrine falcon perched on his beside; it then flies away through the open window.

Jacob returns to the house and discovers an old trunk, which he believes is his grandfather's. He opens it by throwing it off the landing and into the basement. In the trunk are photos similar to the ones his Grandpa used to show him as a child. Suddenly, he sees a number of children watching him from a hole in the ceiling. He calls to them, but they flee from the house. Jacob follows a girl into a stone cairn across the bog. He crawls through the narrow tunnel but finds she has disappeared. He leaves the cairn to find the weather miraculously now sunny when it was raining heavily. He walks back to town to find everything old-fashioned and the Priest Hole is no longer a hotel. He is chased away by the pub owners, as they think he is a German spy.

The young girl takes him into a shack where he is surprised by an invisible boy, who introduces himself as Millard and the girl as Emma.

Still convinced that he is living a hallucination, Jacob continues on his way with Emma and Millard. Once they get out of the town and away from the angry bar patrons, Jacob sees the house, but it is pristine and well kept; it looks nothing like the house that he found a few days ago.  

Emma and Millard take Jacob to their headmistress, Miss Peregrine, and he is surprised to find that she already knows his name and quite a bit about him. Miss Peregrine explains that the children who live in the house are "peculiar" — born with supernatural abilities. She explains that she too is peculiar and can take the form of a bird— specifically a peregrine falcon. She also tells him that she was indeed the peregrine perching on his beside. Jacob becomes confused, and very quickly Miss Peregrine figures out that Abe hasn't told Jacob very much. Miss Peregrine fills him in on the basics of the peculiar life and the history of how peculiars exist. There are time loops all over the world where other peculiars live as their abilities don't fit into the outside world.  Each loop is overseen by a ymbryne, like Miss Peregrine, who can both manipulate time and take the shape of a particular bird. The ymbrynes travel the world searching for peculiar children who need help, then invite them back to their loops where they protect, educate and look after the peculiar children. She tells him what his grandfather was like during his time at the house.  Worried about how some of the children would handle the news, she asks Jacob to keep secret the fact that Abe is dead. Unfortunately, Emma was eavesdropping on the whole conversation and is very upset to hear of Abe’s death — mostly because the two of them had been romantically involved.  

Miss Peregrine announces that it's dinner time and asks Jacob to join them.  At the table, Jacob sees more of the children he’s seen in the pictures. Claire, for instance, the youngest in the house, has a mouth hidden under her angelic locks of hair and takes her meal alone for she is still embarrassed to eat in front of others.  

The night ends with the sound of airplanes overhead.  As the bombing of the island begins, the children each grab a gas mask and go outside to watch "our beautiful display" of the Nazi air raid.  As the bomb is dropped that leaves the house in ruins, Jacob panics and drops to the ground to find that the house is protected by some supernatural force. Miss Peregrine explains that right before the bomb hits she resets the day and that the peculiars forever live in the loop of September 3, 1940. She also explains that peculiars cannot reside in the present as all of their years spent immortalized in the loop would come to them all at once and reduce them to dust.  Having had quite an action-packed day, Jacob is ready to head home. Emma offers to escort him back to the cairn, where he takes photos of her on his phone to remember that the day's events were real.  

Back in the present, Jacob gets back to the bar, and his dad is concerned about what Jacob is doing here on the island and questions if this trip is helping him. He calls up Dr. Golan and has Jacob speak to him over the phone, but surprisingly, Dr. Golan is still nothing but supportive of what Jacob has been up to. 

Jacob spends the next few days befriending the peculiar children: Emma, a girl who can create fire with her hands; Millard, an invisible boy; Bronwyn, a girl with incredible strength; Enoch, a boy who can animate different beings and objects; Olive, a girl lighter than air; Fiona, a girl who can control nature; Hugh, a boy with bees living inside him; Horace, a boy who has dreams and premonitions of the future; and Claire, the youngest, who has an extra mouth on the back of her head. Jacob and Emma begin a romantic relationship. 

Emma and Jacob take a boat out to a shipwreck, where Emma explains that Jacobs grandfather was indeed peculiar and that his peculiarity was that he could see the "monsters". They return to the house and find that a ymbryne named Miss Avocet has come to seek the help of Miss Peregrine. Miss Avocet explains that the Wights have captured her peculiar wards and her fellow ymbryne sisters in a surprise attack on their loop. Miss Peregrine tells Jacob that a long time ago fellow peculiars and ymbrynes began experimenting to make themselves into god-like immortals as they believed that they should not be pushed into hiding by the normal beings of the world. However, their experiments went wrong and caused a huge explosion that transformed them into horrible creatures known as hollowgast. If hollowgast consume enough peculiar souls they become wights, human-looking beings with white-clear eyes. Miss Peregrine explains that only peculiars and wights can travel through loops while hollows cannot. To most peculiars hollows are invisible, but Jacob has a rare ability and is able to see them. Wights have been trying to reconstruct their experiments with a purpose unknown to the rest of peculiardom. Miss Peregrine fears that wights have followed Jacob to the island. 

Over the next few days, Miss Peregrine puts everyone under curfew, and Jacob informs her of an incident in which a small flock of sheep has been attacked and mutilated. Martin also disappears and is found dead. The peculiar children and Jacob devise a plan so that Enoch can reanimate Martin and ask him who his attacker was as they believe it could be a hollow. Jacob, Emma, Bronwyn, and Enoch sneak out of the loop and into the present to the fishmonger's, where Martin's body is being held. Enoch successfully brings Martin back to life for a short time in which he recites a poem about the bog man; Jacob believes this means Martin was attacked by a hollow. Then a Wight disguised as an ornithologist appears, taunting the children. He knows all of their names and claims to have followed Jacob for a long time. He then transforms into Jacob's eighth-grade bus driver and then finally Dr. Golan. Golan introduces the hollow Malthus (who also killed Grandpa Abe) and then leaves so that Malthus can kill the children and enjoy his meal. 

Bronwyn throws an entire ice trough against and then knocks a hole through the wall in which they escape. Emma and Jacob split up from Bronwyn and Enoch so that they can escape to the loop. The hollow chases Emma and Jacob into the ruined home. Jacob takes a set of sheers and attacks the hollow by stabbing it through its eye in the bog. Emma saves Jacob from sinking into the bog and they return to the loop. They return to the house and discover that Golan has abducted Miss Peregrine and forced to transform into a bird and locked the other children in the basement. They free them and they all gather together. 

They decide that Golan must still be on the island; Fiona tells them that they're right and that Golan has headed toward the harbor with Miss Peregrine, so they head for the docks. All the children except Bronwyn, Jacob, Emma, and Millard swim towards the lighthouse, where Golan is firing his gun at them. Millard gets shot. Afraid that Millard will die if they retreat to the shore, Bronwyn rips a metal door off a nearby shipwreck and uses it as a shield. They reach the lighthouse, and Emma and Jacob chase Golan up to the lighthouse balcony. Emma and Jacob vibrate the stairs by swaying in the storm, and Golan drops his gun. Jacob and Emma find Golan with Miss Peregrine and Miss Avocet trapped in cages in their bird forms with red tracking devices attached. Golan explains that the Wights are kidnapping ymbrynes again to attempt the eternal youth time loop once more. He then flings the cage containing the birds off the balcony and into the sea. Jacob fires the gun into Golan's throat, and he falls over the balcony. The pair search the waves for the cage and see the red tracking device flickering in the dark. Emma and Jacob plunge into the sea and swim towards the cage, but suddenly a German U-boat surfaces beneath them. A Wight emerges from the hatch and takes the cage, sinking back into the depths. Jacob and Emma begin to swim away but then see that Miss Peregrine has somehow escaped the cage and is now floating in the vicious waves. They rescue her and take her back to shore, where the other children are waiting. 

The children urge Miss Peregrine to change back into human form, but she is mysteriously unable too. They return to the house to find it no longer standing. The loop has not looped, so the house was bombed by the Germans. Horace then has a prophetic vision of where the Wights have taken Miss Avocet. He draws a snowy landscape with barbed wire fences. The children decide they have no choice but to search for other loops to find Miss Avocet. Emma fetches the Map of the Days, which lists every loop that ever existed. They realize that if they go on the journey Jacob might not ever be able to return to the present. Jacob leaves the loop to go and say goodbye to his dad. His dad tells him he's angry that Jacob keeps disappearing every day. He says that he's meeting imaginary friends but then suddenly Emma, Olive, and Millard appear. At first, Jacob's dad is confused but believes he's dreaming, so he goes back to bed. Emma leaves a note for Frank saying that she'll keep Jacob safe and that she knew Abe. She leaves a photo of herself and Abe lying in a grass field together. 

They return to the loop and they bury Bronwyn's brother, Victor, who was killed by a Wight after he ventured outside the loop and whose body was preserved by the loop. The children say their goodbyes to their home and leave for the dock. They gather their belongings as well as food, maps, and pieces of the remaining house. All ten of them pile into rowboats and begin to row out to sea. Noticing large ships in the distance, they row faster, leaving their beloved island behind them.   

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: The Graphic Novel[]

MPHPCGraphicNovelCover

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: The Graphic Novel is the illustrated novel version of Ransom Riggs' original book. It is drawn by famous illustrator Cassandra Jean. The book features a shorter version of the story. It hit shelves November 2, 2013.

Film Adaptation[]

Tim-burton-0

Tim Burton is directing the Miss P. movie

The movie rights for Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children were sold to 20th Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment. The movie was directed by Tim Burton. Jane Goldman was hired to adapt the story as a screenplay. Peter Chernin, Dylan Clark, and Jenno Topping produced the movie.

Originally intended to be released in June 2015, the movie's release was moved to March 4, 2016 to give way for the movie adaptation of Paper Towns. The film's release date was pushed back again to December 25, 2016 and then shifted up to September 30, 2016. The Movie is now released. The [1]trailer can be found here.

Photographs[]

Credited Photographs
The following is a complete list of credited photographs at the back of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar
Title Page From the Collection of Shown File Name Source

The Invisible Boy

12 Robert Jackson Millard Nullings Invisible.png
The Levitating Girl 13 Yefim Tobis Olive Abroholos Elephanta
Boy Lifting Boulder 14 Robert Jackson Victor Bruntley Victor.jpg
The Painted Head 15 Robert Jackson
Abe Napping 24 Robert Jackson Abraham Portman Sleepingwithgun.jpg
The Girl in the Bottle 46 Robert Jackson Bottle.jpg
The Floating Baby 47 Peter Cohen
The Boy-Faced Dog 48 Robert Jackson
The Contortionist 49 Robert Jackson
The Masked Ballerinas 50 Robert Jackson
Miss Peregrine's Silhouette 56 Robert Jackson Miss Peregrine Siillo.jpg
Boy in Bunny Costume 86 Robert Jackson Franklin Portman
Girls at the Beach 112 The Thanatos Archive girlsatthebeach.jpg
The Reflecting Pool 113 Peter Cohen
A Boy and His Bees 114 Robert Jackson Hugh Apiston Hugh.jpg
The Snacking Ballerinas 115 Robert Jackson
Emma in the Dark 118 Muriel Moutet Emma Bloom
The Cairn Tunnel 122 Martin Isaac
Fighter Planes 134 Robert Jackson
Miss Peregrine 143 Ransom Riggs Miss Peregrine
Miss Finch 154 Roselyn Leibowitz Miss Finch Finch.jpg
Miss Avocet and Her Wards 155 Julia Lauren Miss Avocet Avo.jpg
Miss Finch's Loop 158 Roselyn Leibowitz
Claire's Golden Curls 164 David Bass Claire Densmore
Our Beautiful Display 169 Robert Jackson Display.jpg
Bronwyn Bruntley 184 Robert Jackson Bronwyn Bruntley Bronwyn.jpg
Girl with Chicken 187 John Van Noate Fiona Frauenfeld Fiona.jpg
Jill and the Beanstalk 188 Robert Jackson Jill.jpg
A Follower of Fashion 191 Robert Jackson Horace Somnusson Follower.jpg
Miss Nightjar Takes All the Hard Cases 206 Ransom Riggs Miss Nightjar Hard case.jpg
Enoch's Dolls 212 David Bass Enoch O'Connor Enoch.jpg
Victor 216 Robert Jackson Victor Bruntley SickVick.jpg
My Bombshell 223 Peter Cohen Abraham Portman
Peeling Spuds 224 Robert Jackson Emma Bloom Emspud.jpg
Emma's Silhouette 225 Robert Jackson Emma Bloom
This Is Why 227 Robert Jackson Abraham Portman, Aunt Susie This is why.jpg
A Hunting Trip 250 Ransom Riggs Huntingtrip.jpg
Department Store Santa 259 Ransom Riggs
Victorian Dentist 260 The Thanatos Archive Img0621.jpg
Marcie and the Wight 261 Robert Jackson Marcie Manshadowchild.jpg
The Vision 271 Peter Cohen Horace Somnusson
Caw Caw Caw 306 Roselyn Leibowitz Cawcawcaw.jpg
Abe and Emma 344 Robert Jackson Abraham Portman, Emma Bloom Abma.jpg
We Rowed Faster 349 Robert Jackson Rowfast.jpg


Uncredited Photographs, Drawings, Etcetera
Title Page Description File Name Source
Police Sketch 37 A sketch of Malthus Hollodraw.jpg
The Selected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson Title Page 56 With an added note written to Jacob by Abe
Emma's Hatbox 221

Labeled "Private Correspondence of Emma Bloom Do not open"

Kisses, Emma 226 One of the notes written to Abe from Emma Kiss.jpg
Mr. Barron 291 A stapled photograph of Mr. Barron
Horace's Drawing 334 Depicts a forest and razor wire
Emma's Letter 345 A letter written to Franklin from Emma

Behind the scenes[]

  • Ransom Riggs' original idea was not to write a book but to create a photo album to collect all the peculiar images he had, but he decided to change his mind thanks to his editor who insisted that he create a story based on the photographs.
  • In almost all the languages in which this book is translated, the covers are the same since they follow the same design line with the same image and with the same colors.
    • There are several covers in several languages of this book that radically changed the design of it, some of the most different covers are: the German, the Italian, the two Japanese covers and the Polish cover.
  • In English there is another cover that aired with the film, in Spanish there is also another cover for the book equal to the one that was published in English after the film was released, this was done by other publishers in different languages.
  • The collector of old photographs who contributed the most photos to this book was the collector Robert Jackson who contributed 24 photographs among which are: the photo of Millard Nullings, the photo of Abraham Portman sleeping, the photo of the masked dancers, among others.
  • This book has been for more than two years on the list of best-selling books of the New York Times, at one time it occupied the first place on the list surpassing the first book of the famous Harry Potter franchise.[4]
  • It was named as one of the "100 Young Adult Books to Read in a Lifetime" by Amazon.com.[5]
  • The book has 48 photographs in total but only 44 are credited to someone the other 4 photographs are not, among those 4 photos are some drawings or letters made digitally.
  • The graphic version of the book features a shorter version of the story found in the original book.

Notes and references[]

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