Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom RIggs

A mysterious island.

An abandoned orphanage.

A strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography,Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows

At the NYSRA conference I was at, I said that I wanted more YA with pictures. I am not saying every page has to have a graphic, but a like twenty for a book of 200 pages. My friend Karen, who is on the Charlotte Award Council, got this book. I began reading it and you know what? It has pictures! Talk about getting what you wished for.

The pictures in the book, make the book. Creepy. Some people say real, some say not so much, I say - gave me better visuals in my head... some of them are downright creepy.

The word creepy leads me to my next paragraph. I really thought I had a Stephen King - make you freak out - book on my hands. The first five chapters are really creepy, there is a murder, and the details of the murder for Jacob are scary. Then no one believes him. They think he is crazy, poor kid.

This island has a lot of secrets and the story is well-developed, but once Jacob gets to meet the peculiar children, take away the peculiar aspect and it become a regular story. A good regular story, but the element of me being afraid at night when I put it down, was lost. I think I am looking for a really good scary book. Maybe my dream walker book will turn into one.