From Peculiar Children to a rather peculiar middle school, there seems to be a bit of a trend to my reading lately. Professor Gargoyle by Charles Gilman not only boasts a creepy cover (seriously check it out, holographic!), but also a relatively creepy, though juvenile fiction level story. It is the first in a new series – Tales From Lovecraft Middle School and even for someone as uneducated on the nuances of Lovecraft it is easy to see why it is connected. I must admit, my knowledge of all things Lovecraft comes from what I have been told and what games I have played that were also INSPIRED by him. H.P. Lovecraft was known for his horror fiction. Most well known of the creatures he used is Cthulhu (I have crocheted a fair number of them myself!)… and while I am sure there is so much more to be said about the man, I think I will focus on this story.

Professor Gargoyle is centered around Robert Arthur, who due to rezoning is now sent to a brand new middle school where he is without any of his friends but joined by long time bully Glenn. The school is a marvel of modern technology and environmental friendly building materials, yet something seems off. And there is where the story begins.

The characters are interesting, the teachers questionable and the mystery a page turner. There are some creepy crawlies and moments of a minor ick and suspense but all in all (the cover withstanding since it could creep out some with its morphing look) a book I would let the twins (age 12) read. I read it in one sitting as an afternoon break and enjoyed it greatly. Enough so that I have already requested the second book – The Slither Sisters. 

There is an aspect of horror of course, but there is also themes of bullying, acceptance and general middle school life. Plus a rather interesting pet… but I will leave you to get the book yourself and read more about that! If the twins do show interest in this book and chose to read it I will have them write up their own review and tag it to this one! Enjoy!

It is RARE that I will EVER give the kids an extended lunch or a half day but this was the book to do it! Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs was one of those books. A young adult book, this fantasy utilizes old found photographs combined with a compelling story and characters you get to see to believe. There are so many haunting elements to this story… an abandoned orphanage… a mysterious island… tragedies both fresh and long gone… harking back to the second world war in fact! And to be faced with images that illustrate the story as if they were taken by someone for the story instead of the story written around… eerie and marvelous.

I don’t want to share too much, and really, this is a book to be read without knowing much at all to get the full impact… but though the main character (Jacob) is a teenage boy and it is ALL through his point of view I was totally sucked into the story from the very first page. 

Jacob’s grandfather was around his age during the second world war, he was sent away by his parents to an island in Wales as they were Polish Jews. His stories from his time on the island are mysterious and magical… and to Jacob, completely unbelievable. That is, until tragedy hits the family and Jacob begins his adventure to find out the truth. This leads him right to Miss Peregrine’s orphanage. 

The Images Ransom Riggs uses are haunting, sweet, mysterious, confusing, false looking, spooky… perfect. After I read the story I HAD to go through and glance at them again. The story itself was gripping, and I found myself sometimes reading character descriptions multiple times as Jacob comes across more and more peculiar individuals.

I have already put a request on book two – Hollow City and once I receive that one plan to request the third book… Library of Souls. Tim Burton IS coming out with a movie for this book (this is part of why a friend brought it to my attention), but my capacity for scary is much higher in books than in movies… so we shall see!

While I will not be letting the twins read this quite yet, it is definitely a book I will want to have them read in the future. You do need to have some knowledge of the second world war to truly understand the grandfather and the situations the orphanage was in, but other than that… there is a fantastic world of amazingly peculiar children in these pages! You really MUST check it out! 

You can see the original post HERE, but I had overflow of the fun… duh! When do I not? Oh well, enjoy the look back at our summer of 2015 (that just does not roll of the tongue like the summer of ’69).

Golden Bamboo Lemur

Sifaka Lemur

Madagascar. Thank you Wild Kratts for being AWESOME

Hanging with the Novak boys

Lucky library finds from their rack of books no longer in circulation.

Jeffrey!

Emanuel and Zander

Snoopy!

the beginning of the rest of Alex’s birthday

more of Aidan’s birthday

And now for the ones off the cell phone!

Making Donuts with Nana!

Goofing around at the Novak’s

Look who got their bracelet to access all pools!

Emanuel’s third place Fair winner

Trying on Baba’s old uniform jacket

And now for my two favourites from the month!