Dark Fantasy

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

On Sept. 3, 1940, a mysterious orphanage on an island in Wales was bombed by German planes, killing its inhabitants—at least that’s what the public thinks. In reality, the orphans are children with mystical powers and are protected by a time loop in which the date never changes.

In Ransom Riggs’ novel Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children—with the assistance of eerie pictures one would expect to find in the dark crevices of a haunted house—the story is told from the point of view of a boy, whose grandfather was one of the children in the time loop. The boy, named Jacob, grew up learning about children who were invisible, could create a fire out of thin air, and could fly.

As he grew older Jacob dismissed these stories as hysterical tales created by his grandfather, who would rather imagine a fictional world than face the realities of life. However, when Jacob’s grandfather dies under mysterious circumstances, Jacob begins to believe in the fantasy home of Miss Peregrine and decides to stop at nothing until he finds it.

Miss Peregrine’s is a never-ending fantasy that casts a dark shadow over fairy tales, and leaves the reader wishing that their reality could be as twisted as that projected in the novel.

Humor and horror-filled, Miss Peregrine’s is the perfect novel for those looking to branch away from the typical romance-filled dystopian novels that are currently popular.

In Miss Peregrine’s, every fairy tale, science fiction, and paranormal story comes to life through the experiences of the unusual children who have spent their lives hidden in the folds of time.

The novel is twisted and fantastic as it leaves readers solving the mystery behind the truth of the stories Jacob grew up with. It provides a reason for a teenager to read a fairytale, and proves to be even better than the average Cinderella story.

The novel is an outlet for all things peculiar and terrifying while repeating thoughts that the reader has on a day to day basis when it comes to escaping reality. The story leaves the reader wanting to crawl in between the pages and to stay forever.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children can be found at the Fullerton Public Library and the FUHS library. The film adaptation is coming to theatres Sept. 30, 2016.