Review of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Quirk Books

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
By Ransom Riggs
3 Scribbles
Jacob grew up hearing his granddad, Abraham, tell stories about his narrow escape from the “monsters” that lived in Poland during WWII, and his flight as an orphan to a children’s home in Wales.  Granddad’s escape isn’t just from the Nazis, but monsters of the mythical type with bloodthirsty cravings for human flesh. When Jacob grows older he dismisses the stories about monsters as ravings from Granddad’s senile mind—that is until he witnesses a murder— and in his search for the killer, is forced to reconsider whether or not Abraham’s stories are actually true. 
There are three things that I find quite misleading about this book. The first perplexing point is most certainly the cover. Perhaps it is the intent of the artist to make the cover appear eerie and menacing, with the floating girl in vintage clothing, but what it actually does (in tandem with the long and lame title) is promote the book to primarily young female readers, even though the protagonist is a male, definitely not a good move on the part of the publisher. The third confounding element is the age of Jacob, the protagonist. At the start of the novel Jacob is an older teen using older-teen vocabulary and with an older-teen attitude. Imagine my disappointment when  Jacob seems to regress as the story moves on, acting more like a younger teen. Those errors aside, the action and the characters (including the monsters)  in the story are both excellent, feeling like a cross between the writing of Daren Shan in his Cirque du Freak series and Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus.  However, I would argue that there is nothing spooky at all about the story. The concept of possible time travel, while not unique per se, is made more interesting when described as time loops that eventually close.  And while the ending leaves a few questions unanswered (also leaving an opening for a second book in a series) this book has won several awards, and there is movie buzz surrounding it, so my average rating may fall well below the accepted mark.

Review of Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins

Scholastic

Gregor the Overlander (Book One of the Underland Chronicles)

By Suzanne Collins

4 Scribbles

In all the frenzy surrounding the long-anticipated release of Suzanne Collins' masterpiece, The Hunter Games in movie form, I decided to catch up on some of Collins’ other works. Students have been recommending the Underland Chronicles to me for years, Collins’ earlier series; and so I finally picked up book one, and I was not disappointed!

After his father disappears, Gregor is the man of his house despite his own pain; and, he takes the job seriously. That’s why when Gregor’s baby sister, Boots, falls down a mysterious vent in their New York City apartment, Gregor jumps in to rescue her. He is shocked to find that he and his sister have entered a portal to the Underland—a place where bats bond with humans, spiders go on quests, cockroaches talk, and rats are the super-sized kind. Oh, and did I mention? These critters all talk! Even though the environment is completely foreign, Collins’ descriptions bring the Underworld and its creatures to life. The tale is a classic quest; Gregor’s coming has been foretold to the human population of the Underworld, a strange, noble and pale people who are unaccustomed to visitors. These people are on the brink of a great war with the vicious, bloodthirsty rats. Like most of us would, Gregor has insecurities about being only eleven and being expected to embark on a journey into the unknown, but he harnesses his fear and agrees to accompany the humans of the Underworld in the hopes of perhaps finding his father and returning back to his mother in New York. His character is heroic, tender, and very protective of his sister Boots--readers will love him. And, it's hard not to adore Boots, Gregor's unexptected companion who provides humor and inspiration for the questors. The reader roots for Gregor and his entourage as the group faces challenge after challenge, all leading up to the moment when Gregor must face his worst fear—and the possibility that he may not survive the quest alive. The concluding twist is totally unexpected, and the teaser at the end will make younger readers anxious to read book two in the series, The Prophecy of Bane.