Topic > Characters and Photos in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Ransom Riggs, an American filmmaker and writer, first had the idea for an illustrated novel when he accidentally came across some sinister-looking vintage photos. Ransom recalls that “photos suggest stories even if you don't know who the people are or exactly when they were taken” (Staskiewicz 1). Based on the photos, he started a story and the more he wrote, the more natural it became that he was looking for more. He ended up scouring swap meets and flea markets for evocative photos that he felt deserved a place in his novel. With 349 pages of a plot that defies categorization, strangely intriguing characters, and captivating, eccentric, archaic photography, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is a quirky and noteworthy children's novel. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Category, or genre, is what gives a novel a sense of belonging in the literary world. The category is what separates books into groups so that readers can identify a favorite and select other novels that are ideally the same. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is a whole other category of its own. SGB, in Audiofile Magazine, writes: "In addition to creating one of the best titles for a children's book in recent memory, Riggs has also produced a clever and unusual first-person time travel story." In addition to time travel – or the time continuum in which September 3, 1940 repeats itself – as a plot element, the novel also introduces wilder characters. Majorie Kehe – in the Christian Science Monitor – says: “Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is where a handful of the world's overlooked and forgotten “peculiar” people are resurrected to tell their stories and attempt to discover a niche for themselves themselves in the world as it is today." With a first-person point of view written on a loop, time travel, and reality-defying characters and all that is possible, many agree that Riggs' novel is in a class of its own. vital component of what makes Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children such a bizarrely adorable novel. An article in Publisher's Weekly illustrates the same sentiment by saying, "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is a fun, quirky read featuring well-developed characters." In addition to being well-constructed, the novel's characters also offer readers a story of their own. The article goes on to say, “Riggs creates supernatural backstories and identities for the people depicted in them (a boy swarming with bees, a girl with wild hair carrying a chicken)” (Publisher's Weekly 1). Each novel has its memorable share of characters, but Ransom Riggs goes further by developing characters who share their own personal history with the reader, aside from the main plot with Jacob Portman and his quest to discover the truth about his grandfather's past. – but developing characters that are well-developed and terrifyingly intriguing at the same time. This, in the literary world, is no easy task and is something that only enriches the plot of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. The most distinctive feature of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is the inclusion of photographs within its pages. Not only do the photos make the novel even more unique, but Ransom Riggs admits that the plot was ultimately created by piecing together these seemingly random photos. Most readers would agree that novels are meant to leave the reader with the power to transform the words woven within the pages into a product. 2013.