Entry #2: Summer Reading Project 2014

In my story Hollow City  there are many different characters that want/desire something. The peculiar children want and desire a home, to feel safe, to not be caught but at the same time to be known. There are two main characters that I would like to mainly talk about though. First Jacob Portman, he figured out he was peculiar from the help of his grandpa and his peculiar friends. At home Jacob was quiet and what we call "nerdy". As I finished the first book and reading the second, I realized Jacob wanted triumph he wanted to be remembered but more than that he wanted to help his new peculiar family that were in need. And then the other peculiar child Emma Bloom, she however was not as lucky as Jacob she had to discover her peculiar power herself feeling very alone and not only alone but brought up in a home with abusive parents who would hide her away and lock her up because of her powers. She has similar desires as Jacob. She mainly wants people to know she is a good person whether or not she likes them. And like any girl, she wants love. She and Jacob have a relationship as she did with Jacobs grandfather, but that is a long story I will not get into. There are many themes I was starting to notice in my story, one that if you really want something you can make it work out if you put your head to it. Also, always go with your gut feeling in life if you feel that it is the right thing to do. The main theme that I noticed in this story is, when you feel lost in life and about yourself you should do whatever it takes to figure out what you are set out to do. My book is sructured by chapters and by parts. There are two main parts to this story. Part One and Part Two.

Jacob Portman looking off into the distance trying
to figure out where he will go next in life with the
his Peculiar family.

Emma Bloom showing her  powers of being able
to make a fire with her bare hands.

Entry #1: Summer Reading Project 2014

The story I'm  reading is called Hollow City. The second book in the series of Ransom Riggs' novels. It was a very interesting story. There are two main characters in my story. A young "peculiar" boy named  Jacob Portman and a young "peculiar" girl named Emma Bloom. The setting varies in this story. Mainly because the peculiar children go through time loops which puts them through many different periods in time. Ether in the far past or present time now. Many conflicts arise in this story that the peculiars (children) need to worry about, but there is one big one in general. Their head leader Miss Peregrine has been changed into a bird, and time is running out before she stays this way forever. The children have to overcome many obstacles such as not being found out about their peculiar abilities by the "normal" humans, being caught by viscous beasts that are called (Hollows or Hallowgasts), and moving fast enough so that time does not run out! My predictions for this story is that the children will overcome all of these obstacles to get their leader back before its too late. What mainly makes me think this is how smart the kids are and how much they have overcome already. I have a lot of questions for the author of how he came up with this topic. Have you ever gotten creeped out from reading your own story? This story is so "peculiar", which makes it very hard to relate it to other works. One series that it does remind me of a lot is The Series Of Unfortunate Events, by the author of  Daniel Handler with the pen name of Lemony Snicket.  Hollow City is A great read and I would suggest it to many readers if you like Peculiar Stories.

The front cover of Hollow City