Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

• Genre: Fiction; young adult gothic fantasy
• Originally Published: 2011
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 890L; grades 8-12
• Structure/Length: Prologue and 11 chapters; approx. 382 pages; approx. 9 hours, 42 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Jacob Portman is shaken by the death of his grandfather Abraham, who believed monsters were out to get him and whose dying words to Jacob are a riddle. When Jacob travels to an island in Wales to investigate stories of his grandfather’s childhood during WWII, he begins to unravel the mysteries of the children’s home run by Miss Peregrine, where Abraham Portman grew up.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Death of a family member; violence

Ransom Riggs, Author

• Bio: Born in 1979 in Maryland; began writing and making films at a young age; studied English literature at Kenyon College and film at the University of Southern California; Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children was inspired by the author’s collection of unusual photographs and was adapted as a film directed by Tim Burton in 2016; enjoys travel and scuba diving; lives in California
• Other Works: Talking Pictures: Images and Messages Rescued from the Past (2012); Hollow City (2014); Library of Souls (2015); The Desolations of Devil’s Acre (2021)
• Awards: ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults (2012)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Coming of Age
• Family
• Overcoming Fear
• Knowledge Versus Ignorance

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the social and historical contexts of World War II that drive Jacob’s narrative.
• Analyze paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Coming of Age, Overcoming Fear, and Knowledge Versus Ignorance.
• Plan and organize a collection of materials using details from the text to make predictions about Jacob’s next adventure.
• Analyze and evaluate the plot and character details to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding photographs, parallels between characters, and other topics.