Darwen has just moved from a little town in England to Atlanta, Georgia. He doesn't really fit in. But when a strange man in the mall gives him a special mirror, he becomes involved in something much bigger than trying to fit into a new school halfway around the world. Another world exists beyond the mirror, and it is in dire peril. Can he save it?What a slog. The book doesn't start too badly, or end too badly, but most of the middle was tedious to frustrating. Part of the problem is that the book is heavy-handed in dealing with a lot of Darwen's struggles. Darwen, a mixed-race kid from England, has gotten into a posh private school courtesy his aunt, who makes a lot of money. The book takes care to point out this school contains a hodgepodge of races and nationalities, whose only commonality is that they all have rich parents. So what does Darwen get bullied for? His accent. Despite the fact that Koreans and who knows all else attends the school, apparently Darwen is the only one with an accent, and furthermore everyone from the students to the teachers actively hates him for it. No one likes his accent or thinks it's cool he knows an entirely different set of slang. I have friends from other English-speaking countries. The reception they have generally gotten has been fascination with both the accent and the slang. Darwen's teachers publicly humiliate him for his accent and one even forces him to stay after class to teach him how to speak "proper" English.Also, Darwen's big stand against being bullied by a teacher is standing up in algebra class defending why he is reading Treasure Island. It doesn't really work. Darwen is trying to be noble about being a bookish sort more than a math person, but he's defending himself for reading in class when he should be paying attention (which is a dubious place to call the moral high ground). And the teacher again ridicules him for his accent and Darwen fails to call him out on it. Come to that, the way the book portrays Darwen's accent is by writing his lines in American English and then having someone parrot them back to him spelled phonetically so the reader can get a feel for how it sounds. This happens multiple times.Which brings me to the second puzzlement. This school is so horribly dysfunctional I wonder why the teachers and the school bully can get away with being as bad as they are. So what if Nathan's parents are rich? Supposedly, everyone else's parents are in the same bracket, and it's hard to believe they would put up with having their kids in a school that's scarcely better than an inner city district. Darwen's math teacher, particularly, makes fun of him in front of everyone for not knowing algebra---did they not do placement tests when Darwen transferred in? Surely he at least had a transcript, which would have indicated he was not taking an algebra class. And all Darwen would have to do is actually tell his aunt what had happened for the potential of a lawsuit to exist (and we are talking about an income bracket with the means to fund legal vendettas, if they aren't lawyers themselves).Third, the mirror-world is so thin it might as well not exist. It would really make as much sense for Darwen to have found some secret community in rural Georgia, because he sees basically nothing of the other world. He runs around in a circle in a forest. That's pretty much it (the train ride doesn't really add much new, except a train and a house). So in a way it makes sense that Darwen's real goal is more to save his own world from the scrobblers than to rescue the world behind the mirror. There is nothing to like behind the mirror except a little bit of scenery and an interesting little dellfey named Moth.Fourth, the other characters. Rich was my favorite character in the book. He wins major props for being secure enough in himself to pursue his hobby even when everyone else thinks he's crazy and a science geek, and he doesn't let the bullies ruffle him. But as if to counter the sole bit of normalcy that is Rich, we have Alexandra. She's a complete brat who uses the fact that everyone is embarrassed by her behavior to manipulate people. She's loud, pushy, and obnoxious. I would never read a sequel for the sole reason that she would be in it. She's never sorry, either, for being such a jerk to everyone, so there's no indication she's actually reformed by the end.Fifth, the villains. The scrobblers and the other grunts aren't bad as enemies---it's more of a horror story since they all seem to be slavering kill-on-sight type monsters. But the big reveal about the two who can think just felt like the book wanted to pick some of the only people who were nice to Darwen and turn them against him. Only one of those two even had any setup indicating this was a possible villain. The other one still baffles me. Both of them had to have infiltrated the school long before this book started---why? Why do it like this, when working in secret, after dark, would have seemed to be much more conducive to carrying out the ultimate plan of breaking through? What benefit does Greyling gain by having the job he has---and why does someone with his "I will rule the world" mentality put up with such a position? It would make far more sense for him to be the principal. He's helpful to Rich in a manner inconsistent with his character, since he never attempts to exploit that friendship the way he apparently exploited the Guardians.Overall, I would not give this to someone to read. It's too rage-inducing, and a waste of time and shelf space. I rate this book Not Recommended. 11 year old Darwen Arkwright had to leave his native home in Northern England to move in with his Aunt Honoria in far off Atlanta, Georgia. While in an Atlanta shopping mall, Darwen followed a strange creature into a shop of mirrors run by the mysterious, and sometimes deceitful, Mr. Octavius Peregrine. Mr. Peregrine sees fit to present Darwen with one of his mirrors to take home, which ends up being a door to a strange new world that only a few people with special abilities can enter and exit. With a new home also comes a new school, so in addition to exploring his new environment and Silbrica, the new mirror world, the protagonist has to explore a new school. It turns out the new school and Silbrica may have some connections.[return][return]My thoughts on this story are mixed. First I will share what I did not like about the story then I will share what I did like about it. [return][return]We are presented with plenty of secrets in the story, and one of them was the fate of Darwen� s parents. When the big reveal to this question was presented, it was a bit anti-climactic. Secrets in a story are necessary, but in order to be a worthwhile secret, it needs to have more shock value to it. Some of the secrets in the story were worth the wait, and some were not. I also felt the story had a strong beginning, a slow middle, and a hastily finished ending. I felt the author may have tired of the book and just threw something together for the ending to get it over with. It was a somewhat satisfying ending, but some important details were neglected or mentioned as an afterthought much later than they should have.[return][return]The story did have an interesting plot. If you are working with a child who enjoyed, or if you yourself enjoyed, � The Shadows (The Books of Elsewhere, Vol. 1), by Jacqueline West, this would be a good book to read. Exploring Silbrica was fun, and the characters were likable& unless they were bad guys, then they were able to inspire dislike. There was a surprise with one of the characters that was pleasantly shocking, as well as leaving a story line open for a future book or for one to work over in their own imagination. I may recommend this book to a child that enjoys the fantasy genre and can� t get enough of other world stories, but I would not introduce a child to speculative fiction with this book.
What do You think about Mr. Peregrines Geheimnis (2013)?
Nette Geschichte um Jugendliche, Spiegelwelten, den kauzigen Mr. Peregrine und seine Geheimnisse.
—rolemar
This was just a little too fantasy for my liking. My 12-year-old nephew enjoyed it though.
—book_nerd4
Old-fashioned, yet enjoyable, "Narnia-like" fantasy with a bi-racial hero.
—Patrick
Maine Student Book Award Nominee 2012-2013
—Trish32
