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Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Ransom Riggs | 2013 | Children, Young Adult (YA)
8
7.9 (128 Ratings)
Book Rating
It doesn’t hurt me to say that I have watched the movie before I read the book. What hurts me to say is that even though I loved the book, I enjoyed the movie way more. But I am not here to compare the book and the movie, because I loved them both in a different way.

‘’I had just come to accept that my life would be ordinary when extraordinary things began to happen.’’

Jacob was raised by his grandfather, who told him stories about the amazing house he used to live in, and all the children that lived with him, that had amazing abilities and were different than ordinary people. Grandpa Portman would even show Jacob pictures of the children and their peculiarities - he would tell him stories about the invisible boy, the girl that could float if she didn’t have iron boots, the girl that could breath out fire and the children that could easily lift the heaviest rocks. He would also talk about the danger and the big monsters that the children were so scared of.

And Jacob believed and loved these stories - he shared an amazing bond with his grandpa. Until, of course, he grew up. Suddenly, he was old enough to know this isn’t true, and stopped believing. His grandpa would try to convince him, and warn him that the monsters are coming, but the only conclusion he had is that his grandpa lost his marbles.

But then his grandpa dies, and Jacob sees the monsters himself. Despite everyone believing that he is crazy, just like his grandpa, Jacob now has no choice but to find these strange children - and get answers to all his questions.

The book moves quite slow, and it is not until half of the book that we actually get to meet the children. As a person that watched the movie, this was extremely frustrating, as I kept waiting and waiting, and nothing special happened for 90 pages.

The author puts photographs in the book, and they are perfectly put in the book to explain how a character looks, and to describe the scene better. This was the strawberry to my cake in this book. I immensely enjoyed the beautiful photographs and how perfectly well they fitted with the book and detailed the characters. The only character that I couldn’t imagine was Miss Peregrine - her picture is not at all what I expected. At first, I thought about sharing some of those pictures here - but then, I assumed you might enjoy them more if you explore them yourself while reading the book, as they come - as I could never be able to do that as well as Ransom Riggs did.

For the ones you watched the movie first - the movie is not at all the same as the book. So lower your expectations, otherwise you will be disappointed. The movie seemed to have put three books into one, and swapped people’s abilities, and made up some scenes and places.

The book, however, had parts that you wouldn’t see in the movie, and its own magic of detailed descriptions to your favorite stories and characters.

I hated Jacob. Not just at the beginning, but all the way through. Mister ‘’I-am-too-good-for-everything’’ , Mister ‘’My-family-is-so-rich-I-will-try-my-best-to-get-fired-from-work-because-my-uncle-owns-the-shop’’. No - Just no. As much as I enjoyed his story, his character is very egocentric and unlikeable. I actually liked Grandpa Abe so much more, even though he was only partially and ghostly present in the book.

Miss Peregrine didn’t reveal much of her character as she does in the movie. We don’t get to read a lot about her to be honest, and she was the one person I expected to see more of.

We get to hang around with the children a lot though, and meet Emma, the girl that has fire powers, and that used to be Grandpa Abe’s lover and now Jacob - which is more than weird, but oh well…

‘’She moved to pinch me again but I blocked her hand. I’m no expert on girls, but when one tries to pinch you four times, I’m pretty sure that’s flirting.’’

We get to meet Millard, the invisible boy, Olive, the girl that can float without her iron boots, Fiona, who can make plants and trees grow in seconds and many other lovely children with even lovelier abilities.

This is an amazing story about extraordinary people, children who will amuse you with how cute they can be, a bit of (well, a lot of) time travel and a great valuable lesson that everyone in this world is peculiar and extraordinary in their own way! A must-read to all of you that love some fantasy stories and different worlds.
  
40x40

ClareR (6054 KP) rated In My World in Books

Nov 7, 2017  
In My World
In My World
Jillian Ma, Mimi Chao (Illustrator) | 2017 | Children, Education
10
6.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
A beautifully illustrated and worded book
This is a book that looks in to the mind of an autistic child, and their struggle with other people understanding how they think and view the world. The illustrations are beautiful - and I like how the main character is actually a human child which is much more relatable to all children, whether they're autistic or not. The book shows that we might see autism as something negative, but the child has a world of their own imagination in which to live happily - I can see other children realising that they too have this imaginary world and that they're not so different after all. As with many children's books about autism that I've seen lately, it is all about fostering understanding; helping the non-autistic child learn that they are not so different, and that any differences are what actually make us all individuals. A lovely book that I'm sure will be popular.

I received this book free for an unbiased review through NetGalley and publisher.
  
Fowl Language: Welcome to Parenting
Fowl Language: Welcome to Parenting
Brian J. Gordon | 2016 | Health & Fitness
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for an unbiased opinion.

Brian Gordon captures many moments where parents are their wits' end, trying desperately to remember that they still love their children. In several of the comics, he even talks about that parental feeling of thinking you know what love is, only to have it completely redefined when you have children. This book is great for parents battling between the two ends of the spectrum...

I love that he opened the book with a reminder that the reason airplane flight warning instructions start with "Put your mask on first, then on the faces of those around you who need help" because he's right...if a parents don't take the time to give themselves a little release, how can they be expected to take care of anyone else?

As I was always do, I highlighted my favorite of the comics to return to after: "Parenting is mostly just trying to explain in gentle, age-appropriate terms why being a dumbass and doing dumb shit will fuck your shit up."
  
My Very First Story Time: Cinderella
My Very First Story Time: Cinderella
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Cinderella: Fairy Tale with picture glossary and an activity (My Very First Story Time) by Pat-a-Cake, Rachel Elliot, Tim Budgen is a retelling of a much loved story, only with a difference, this has a multicultural slant.

Cinderella, (along with many of the other characters in this book) is portrayed as mixed heritage. She is also more capable of looking after herself, and a much better role model for young girls since this story is less about her being a slave to her ugly sisters and her “woe-is-me” pity-party and more about how she makes things happen for herself as a valued member of her society. Albeit a magical one.

I’d say this is great reading for children three years and up, as this has paper pages and doesn’t seem to be for an early self-reader, despite the title, but you can still read this story out loud to younger children at bedtime.

A charming book, full of diversity, simple rhythmic words and brightly coloured illustrations.
  
AP
A Puppy's Dream Comes True
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I enjoyed this short adorable heart-warming story of BabyDoll, a maltese puppy who is adopted by a lovely couple, Lisa and Donald. The author has created a wonderful story telling of animal adoption from the dog's point of view.

It is clear to see from quick glance at this story that the author is American and in the fashion/entertainment world.

This is a great book for young children however I couldn’t relate to the way the family treat the dog – its a dog not a human. I have a dog myself who is treated like one of the family but I wouldn’t feed him real ‘human food’. I am sure there are families who do -but I feel there may be more families out there that are trying to get their children to stop feeding the dog scraps of human food and this book would not help with that. Otherwise it’s a great book with cute illustrations.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review prior to publication.
  
Doctor Sleep (2019)
Doctor Sleep (2019)
2019 | Horror
Basically a new spin to vampirism (0 more)
The slow stabbing and cutting death of a screaming child, and going after other children was too much for me. (0 more)
Interesting spin
Contains spoilers, click to show
The movie takes place several decades after "The Shining", Danny is still haunted by the events from the hotel and is even hunted by the evil that was there. He has found a way to trap the "evil spirits". He makes use of his "shining" and it becomes a great story, however the main protagonist is a group of people that have the same special power as Danny and even more, but they've also learned how to suck the power from young children and this results in what I don't think needs to be in cinema. This world is evil enough as it is and to watch a child be cut and stabbed to death slowly while a group kneels over him inhaling his essence is revolting, I almost left the theater over it.
0/10 snore factor, cant sleep through this one!
  
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    Medical and Reference

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