Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar

Children

By Ransom Riggs

Student Packet

Name

Class
 Characters

Near each character’s name, write adjectives that describe this character, his or her
personality, and his or her actions. Then, connect characters with a line. On the line,
describe their relationship.

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 Ricky Franklin Maryann
Pickering Portman Portman

Grandpa
Portman
Miss
Peregrine

Jacob
Portman
Enoch
Doctor O’Connor
Golan
Horace
Somnusson

Emma
Bloom
Millard
Nullings
Bronwyn
Bruntley

Which character from Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children are you most like? Explain with specific
examples from the text and your own life. (Write this on a separate piece of paper please!)

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Setting
Part Time Period Geographical Location(s)/Physical Location(s)

“Prologue”

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-11

Predict where they are heading at the end of the novel. Consider the time period, geographical location, and physical
location. Explain how this new setting will impact the characters and plot.

1. Are the characters in conflict with the setting? What do the characters want? Does the setting keep them from

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 getting what they want?

2. What does the setting tell us about the characters? How do the characters respond to the setting?

3. How would you describe the atmosphere or mood created by the setting? What are some specific words or
phrases that indicate this mood?

4. Does the setting connect to a main theme?

Double-Entry Journal
On the left hand side, you will write quotations key to Miss Peregrine’s House for Peculiar
Children. On the right, you will respond to these quotations. Be sure to explain the context of
the quotation, why this quotation is significant, and how the author lets you know this is a key
part of the text (literary devices, techniques, etc.). One has been done for you. When you run
out of room on this page, add additional notebook paper as needed.

Quotation Analysis
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“I had just come to accept that my
life would be ordinary when
extraordinary things began to
happen.” (12)
The narrator describes how after a key event in his life,
everything will be changed and divided into Before and After.
This narrative hook sets up the reader to be interested to see
what the event is, what life was like before, and why the event
changed the main character’s life. Clearly, because the event
involves Jacob’s grandpa, his grandpa will be a key character
in the novel.
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 Preparing to Read & “Prologue”
1. Inspect the novel – look at the cover, spine, and back. Pay attention to the written text, but also the fonts used,
the pictures selected, and the reviews. Then, peruse the text – look at how it is divided, what pictures are
embedded in the text, quotations and dedications before the text, and acknowledgements. Based on your
inspections, what can you guess this will be about? Do you think you’ll like the novel? Explain your
predictions and opinions with specific references to what you see.

2. The text begins with the following from Ralph Waldo Emerson:
Sleep is not, death is not;
Who seem to die live.
House you were born in,
Friends of your spring-time,
Old man and young maid,
Day’s toil and its guerdon,
They are all vanishing,
Fleeing to fables,
Cannot be moored.”

What is the tone of this passage? How do you predict these lines will connect to the text?

3. What details does the narrator share about his Grandpa Portman? What makes this man seem larger than life?
How can you explain the stories he tells?

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4. Visualize what the “monsters” look like and sketch the image in the box. Use specific details from
the text to support your sketch.

5. What information does the narrator share about the children’s home? What about this place seems
realistic? What seems unlikely?

6. Explain why Jacob stops believing in his Grandpa’s stories. How does Grandpa Portman react to this? Is it
understandable that Jacob feels the way he does?

7. How does the information Jacob’s dad shares shed light on Grandpa Portman and his claims? Does this make
it right for him to tell the stories he does? Explain.

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 Chapter 1 & Chapter 2
1. In Chapter 1, what clues suggest Jacob is less than enthusiastic with his current life style and day-
to=day routine?

2. What is the “grandpa stuff” Jacob’s father refers to? By referring to it as “stuff,” what can you infer
about how Jacob’s family feels about Grandpa Portman?

3. Why are Ricky and Jacob unlikely friends? How are Ricky and Jacob foils?

4. When the boys are driving to Grandpa Portman’s, what unusual thing do they see in his
neighborhood before reaching the house? Why does Jacob feel this is unusual?

5. Describe the scene as they enter Grandpa Portman’s house.

6. Paraphrase the cryptic messages Grandpa Portman shares with Jacob in his last words. Can he make
sense of them? What do you predict they mean?

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7. How did you image of the monster compare to the image Jacob produces with the help of a sketch
artist? Does this add proof to the idea that the monster really existed, or does this add proof to Dr.
Golan’s ideas that all this happened because Grandpa Portman placed these images in Jacob’s head?
Explain.

8. Describe Dr. Golan. Does he seem to be helping Jacob deal with the trauma of Grandpa Portman’s
death? Explain.

9. How does Jacob finally convince his family to let him stay in Wales to search out the information
confirmed by the Emerson book and letter?

10. When Jacob says he wants to get on with his “unextraordinary life,” it can be seen as ironic,
considering all that has happened to him the past few months. Explain the irony in this statement.

11.

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 Chapter 3 & Chapter 4
1. Describe some of the unusual things about Grandpa Portman’s island, Cairnholm. Also provide details
about the inhabitants, describing each below:

Kev Dylan & Worm Martin Pagett Cairnholm Man

2.

Why is Grandpa Portman considered a hero to the island?

3. Why is the first trip to the house less than successful? What motivates Jacob to try again? What does this
tell you about Jacob’s character?

4.

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 Chapter 5 & Chapter 6
1. Consider the contrast in the first paragraph of Chapter 5 – what does this do to create a tone for this
episode of Jacob’s adventures?

2. What foreshadowing clues are present in this chapter that suggest Jacob is not alone in the house?

3. Explain why you think Jacob is moved to tears while in the children’s home. Base your inference on
specific facts.

4. Describe how Jacob is transported back to September 3, 1940. Why does this date have special
significance? How is the Cairnholm of 1940 different from Cairnholm today? How is it the same?

5. The girl who can hold flame, Emma, has very strong feelings towards Jacob. Describe these feeling and
explain why she acts the way she does towards him in these chapters.

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6. How does the home for peculiar children match up with Grandpa Portman’s descriptions and stories?
What does Jacob think of the place? What information does Miss Peregrine share with Jacob that helps
him make sense of the situation?

7. How has Dr. Golan enabled Jacob to continue his adventures?

8. Is there any chance that Jacob could stay at the home for peculiar children? Explain your thoughts.

9.

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 Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9
1. Record information about the peculiar children on your character map. How does Jacob react to each of
these children? How do they react to him?

2. Explain why Emma is hesitant to come back with Jacob through the loop.

3. When Jacob returns home from his day in the loop in Chapter 7, what unusual event has occurred? Why
is this problematic for Jacob and his adventures? What other strange event happens in the night?

4. In Chapter 8, Enoch begins to share information about the negative side of living in the home for
peculiar children. What clues does he give that some of the residents might be less than content there?
What clues does he give that they may live in danger?

5. Each time Jacob returns to the present, it appears unusual events are occurring. What strange event
occurs when Jacob returns home in Chapter 8?

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6. In these chapters, Jacob learns that Grandpa Portman was in fact peculiar – explain what special powers
he has. Explain how this relates to Jacob more directly.

7. Paraphrase the events that led to the creation of wights and hollows. How does this impact Miss
Peregrine, Miss Avocet, and the peculiar children?

8. What conclusion does Jacob draw about the new visitor to the island who is posing as a bird watcher?

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 Chapter 10 & Chapter 11
1. Describe the dilemma Jacob is in when he fully understands his grandfather’s role, the danger facing the
peculiar children, and the threat of the wights and the hollows.

2. What different strategies do the children come up with to combat the wights/hollows outside the loop in
Chapter 10? Which plan do you think was most creative/would be most successful? Why?

3. How does the weather in Cairnholm foreshadow the tone and mood of the events that follow the change
in weather?

4. Describe the different characters Dr. Golan, the wight, took on in Jacob’s life. What commonalities did
all these men have?

5. What finally makes Jacob decide he will stay with the peculiar children and not return to his previous
life? Explain his reasoning. Do you agree with his decision to stay? What consequences will that
decision have?

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 6. The novel ends with Jacob reflecting, “I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was
never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was. Likewise, I never imagined that
home might be something I would miss.” Do you think this observation is common? Can you relate to
this realization?

7. Were you satisfied with the ending? If Riggs had not been working on a sequel, how do you think he
would have ended this novel? Explain why you think the way you do.

Quick-End Reflection
Reading Reactions – complete these to form complete sentences (remember punctuation!)

1. I think this novel is because

2. The novel made me think about because

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3. If it were me, I’d because

4. The ending made me feel because

5. Something I don’t understand is because

6. I liked because

7. I didn’t like because

8. In my mind, the looked like:

9. I wish the author because

10. I’d rate this novel a out of 10 (10 = best) because

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