Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

      Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is not brand new to the library, but has never been checked out and has received a lot of positive attention from book reviewers.  For this reason, I thought I better read it and see if it is something I should be recommending to the students at Northwest--I am glad I did.  This book is a great read.  The author was inspired to write the story by looking through old photographs of "peculiar children", and the photographs he used are in the book.  (We don't always get pictures and photographs in our novels, so it was a special treat!)

      The story centers around Jacob, who after the tragic death of his grandfather travels to a remote island. Here he thinks he can find some answers about the seemingly crazy stories his grandfather has been telling him his whole life about his childhood spent in an orphanage with children who are invisible, have two mouths, can levitate etc.  When he travels to this "abandoned" orphanage however, he becomes entangled in a fantastic adventure with these peculiar children whom he meets after travelling in time to 1940.  Here the children never get older because they are stuck in a "loop" that resets itself every day so that they can avoid the horrific scene that begins on the island during World War II. 

        There is SO much more to this novel, but you will have to check it out yourself to figure out the rest!  I would recommend this book to our fantasy/science fiction readers, but I especially think if you liked Harry Potter, you would love this book as well.

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece By, Annabel Pitcher

       If you are interested in some light reading this book is not for you.  That being said, My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece is a wonderful and heart-breaking book about a family that is trying to recover from the loss of a family member.  The narrator Jamie is 10, and he was only 5 years old when Rose was killed in a terrorist attack in London. He is now living with his father, who drinks too much, and his sister Jas (Rose's twin) after his mother walked out on their family following Rose's death. Although Jamie and Jas's father had Rose cremated so he could sprinkle her ashes in the sea, he keeps the remainder of Rose's ashes on their mantelpiece because he can not bear to let them go.  Jamie and Jas want nothing more than for their mother to return home to them, and for their father to stop drinking and become a part of their lives again.

         Jamie is also dealing with a lot at school.  He is being bullied by a boy named Daniel.  Furthermore, his only friend at school, Sunya, is Muslim and he worries about disappointing his father who wrongfully blames Rose's death on every Muslim person he comes into contact with.  

        Jamie becomes convinced that all his problems will be solved if he can get his family back together and he and Jas decide that the best way to do that is to be on a televised talent show and invite their parents to come.  The book does not end exactly the way I thought it would, but it is a satisfying ending nonetheless.  If you are interested, come check it out.  You will find this book on the New Books shelves behind the front desk.