Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is a young adult fantasy book written by Ransom Riggs. It is about Jacob looking for information about his grandfather’s past. He ends up at Mrs. Peregrine’s orphanage. In this orphanage there are only children with special gifts. Jacob finds out that he also has a special gift. Then Miss Peregrine is kidnapped, making the future of the orphanage uncertain. The book has been made into a film and will be released in theaters in September 2016.
- Factual data
- Background
- Ransom Riggs
- Genre
- Summary
- Important characters
- Themes
- Title explanation
- Place and time
- Perspective
- The pictures
- Book adaptation
Factual data
- English title: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
- Dutch title: Mrs. Peregrine’s special children
- Author: Ransom Riggs
- Publisher: Quirk Books
- Pages: 352
- ISBN10: 1594744769
- ISBN13: 9781594744761
Background
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is the first young adult book written by the writer Ransom RIggs. The story is about a boy who tries to solve the mystery surrounding his grandfather’s death. Riggs collects photos and has incorporated a large amount of photos he found into the story. The book is about mysteries, magic and monsters. The book has been in the New York Times bestsellers list for over a year, where it has also reached the number 1 spot. The film will be released in September 2016.
Ransom Riggs
Ransom Riggs grew up in Florida but lives in Los Angeles. He has studied at Kenyon College and the Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television. As a hobby he makes and searches for photos, makes films and travels to special places. He makes short films and blogs on the website MentalFloss.
Genre
The book Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children contains different genres, but the book is mainly a fantasy book for young adults with a bit of horror, thriller and drama influences.
Summary
The book is about the boy Jacob Portman. When Jacob was young he had a good relationship with his grandfather. His grandfather often told him stories about his stay in an orphanage in the 1940s. The orphanage is said to be especially for children with special gifts, but Jacob does not believe this. When Jacob’s grandfather dies under strange circumstances, Jacob starts to doubt the stories. Jacob sees a strange monster around the death. Jacob decides to go to Wales, where his grandfather used to live to learn more about him. Jacob finds a large portal close to the house which takes him to a time loop of the day September 3, 1940, every day here is September 3, 1940. Every day the timeline must be reset by Mrs. Peregrine, otherwise all children will age in a short time because they’ve been stuck in the time loop for years and many are past 90 years.
Jacob finds out in the orphanage that the stories his grandfather told were really true, all the children in Mrs. Peregrine’s orphanage have special gifts. One day, Ms. Recurvirostra comes into Ms. Peregrine’s house to tell them that creatures called hulls have lured special children out of the time loop and died of old age. The same creatures also killed Jacob’s grandfather. Jacob finds out that he has a special gift that he can see the shells, so he can kill such a creature together with Emma.
When Jacob and Emma return from their trip, they learn that Mrs. Peregrine and Recurvirostra have been kidnapped and that Mrs. Peregrine is being kept in the form of a bird. They’re trying to fix the time loop, but it’s impossible without Ms. Peregrine. The children must therefore find a new home otherwise they will die of old age. The children manage to rescue Ms. Peregrine, but Ms. Recurvirostra is kidnapped by another sheath and the time loop cannot be restored. Because the house was bombed in the Second World War, the children can no longer go there. Jacob then decides that he is one of the special children, he says goodbye to his father and, together with the other children, looks for a new place to live.
Important characters
Jacob Portman is the sixteen-year-old protagonist of the story. Jacob is sad because his grandfather died under strange circumstances. Some signs indicate that the circumstances were even supernatural. That is why Jacob is looking for the orphanage where his grandfather lived when he was young. Here he finds out that the strange stories his grandfather used to tell him about the special children are true.
Emma Bloom is one of the special children, she can make fire with her hands. Emma’s parents tried to sell her to the circus, but when they failed, they left her. Emma tells that she used to have a relationship with Jacob’s grandfather.
Miss Peregrine is the woman who runs the orphanage for children with special gifts. She can change shape herself. She uses a time loop to ensure that every day is September 3, 1940 in the orphanage. In the book, Miss Peregrine is kidnapped and held in the form of a bird.
Themes
The supernatural
The title of the book is already about the ‘special children’. This does not just refer to children who are different, but the children in this book have supernatural powers. All photos in the book also show children who are different from other children. Every child has its own supernatural power.
Family
Much of the book is about family and love for each other. Jacob has difficulty understanding his father’s death and is eager to learn more about his history. Also in Miss Peregrine’s house there is a kind of family connection between all the children and Miss Peregrine.
Title explanation
Jacob Portman tries to find out more about his grandfather’s special childhood. This is how he ends up at the orphanage his grandfather always talked about: Miss Peregrine’s home for Peculiar Children. The title of the book is therefore the name of the book. The orphanage is run by Miss Peregrine. The special children are not just special, they all have supernatural powers.
Place and time
- Narration time. The book has 352 pages.
- Told Time. The book covers the present time in the time where he lives in the city with his father. In addition, the day of September 3, 1940 is repeated every time Jacob is in the house for special children.
- Chronology. The story is constantly shifting between the present time and September 3, 1940, the day that is repeated over and over.
- Place. There are several places where the book takes place. The book begins in the present day in Englewood, the town where Jacob lives. In addition, much of the story takes place at Mrs. Peregrine’s orphanage on September 3, 1940, the day that is repeated there.
Perspective
The story is told from the first person and written in the past tense. The perspective is from the narrator, Jacob Portman. This will immediately reveal Jacob’s thoughts exactly when he thinks something. This makes the mysteries to be discovered even more exciting.
The pictures
Throughout the book, photos are used that represent the special children. Ransom Riggs has collected these photos himself at flea markets, for example. The photos match the story perfectly and make the story extra exciting and give it more atmosphere. For example, on the cover of the book there is a picture of a girl who appears to be floating. There are also images of letters and drawings in the book.
Book adaptation
The story about Jacob Portman and Miss Peregrine can be seen in theaters in 2016. The film rights to Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children have been sold to 20th Century Fox and the film adaptation will be released in theaters September 30, 2016. The director is Tim Burton, known for the films Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland.
