Review- MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL

MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL (Yen Press/ Hachette, First Printing, 2013; Hardcover)

Writer: Ransom Riggs

Artist: Cassandra Jean

Yen Press offers these standalone original graphic novels which are targeted at school age kids. They primarily sell them through bookstores and Scholastic book fairs and book orders. You don't see too many of them in comic shops, nor do you hear much about them in comic book circles. This strikes me as odd, as the ones that I have read are polished and enjoyable.

Jacob Portman grew up listening to his grandpa's fantastic, surreal tales of his youth on a tiny island off of the coast of Wales during the second World War. As he grew older Jacob believed his grandfather less and humored him more, until something happens and Jacob finds out that his grandfather's tales and seemingly fake pictures of his friends from when he was growing up are very real indeed. I won't be going into much more detail because I dislike reviews that are filled with spoilers and come off like 9^th grade book reports. I like to think that this blog is written at the level of at least a tenth grade book report.

This concept is a retread of The X-Men and a smattering of other properties, blended together so well that it would take me a while to sit down and pinpoint what was borrowed from where. That is beside the point though, because as a read this is some solid stuff. The hook is strong, the art is Manga-influenced yet Western-minded comic audience accessible, and the writing is what my 9 year old son calls “easy reader” style. You can fly through this book yet still be satisfied that this was a complete story.

I discovered that there is a movie based on this book coming out in a few months. Tim Burton is directing it, and I find that to be curious because the imagery isn't dark or Gothic. I saw the trailer and most of the events shown in it do not occur in this book. As always, I recommend that folks read the source material first. I checked this out from my local library. Maybe your library has it too.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.75 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This is smaller than an average graphic novel and larger than a Manga digest sized book.

Paper stock: Thick coated stock with a slight sheen.

Binding: Perfect bound, although the book block is glued to a flexible piece of cardboard that mimics a block with sewn binding with room in the casing to flex.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: This is a library copy, and the dustjacket has a Brodart sleeve and is fastened to the hardback