Claire Legrand | Musings of the Monster Librarian

Miss Peregine’s Home for Peculiar Children hits theaters this week, and it will be interesting to see how it measures up to the book. It looks cool– click here for a link to the trailer. For me, the letters and the real photographs used, and the scrapbook-type format, were much of what made it intriguing, and I can’t imagine how that will translate to the screen. But the trailers look pretty awesome, so even if the movie doesn’t turn out to be just like the book, perhaps it will stand well on its own.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is far from the first book to be set in a school or home intended for particularly unusual children, though– some really excellent books for middle grade and teen readers exist in this category. Here are a few you might check out.

Down a Dark Hall by Lois Duncan

Kit Gordy is attending an extremely exclusive, isolated, boarding school. Spoiler: it’s also haunted by ghosts who take possession of the students to create amazing works of art. Nothing could possibly go wrong here, right? This is a good one for tweens and middle schoolers, although, in my opinion, you don’t outgrow Lois Duncan.

The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls by Claire LeGrand

This is a disturbed fairy tale of a book. Victoria, a perfect 12 year old in every way, living in a picture-perfect community, has chosen just one friend, the very imperfect, messy, and musical Lawrence. When Lawrence disappears, Victoria goes on a search for him, uncovering some very unpleasant things. As more children disappear, and creepy creatures start invading, Victoria becomes even more determined to solve the mystery. She discovers that the orphanage across the street is actually a deeply disturbing, magically operated facility with the mission of turning all the imperfect children that have disappeared, including Lawrence, into identical, perfect children, Stepford-style. Mrs. Cavendish, the headmistress of the school, is truly diabolical, and the school itself is creepy, disquieting, and disorienting. This one is not for the faint of stomach, but people who liked Coraline or the more nightmarish writing of Roald Dahl might very well like this. This is Gothic children’s horror at its best– highly recommended, but for no younger than age 10.

Contains: body horror, cannibalism, insect hordes, torture.

Matilda by Roald Dahl

Speaking of Roald Dahl, Matilda is surely every book lover’s favorite story of a peculiar child. While her school isn’t specifically for peculiar children, the people who work there certainly qualify as peculiar, especially the headmistress. You can’t help cheering for Matilda as she uses her unusual powers to defeat the sadistic Miss Trunchbull.

The Grounding of Group 6 by Julian F. Thompson

What’s a parent to do when a child repeatedly breaks the rules, gets thrown out of school again, or breaks that last straw? You send them to the school of last resort– Coldbrook County School– and then never worry about them again. That’s right, the school will take care of your problem child for you, in a permanent way, while the students are out on retreat in a wooded area full of sinkholes. Nothing supernatural in this book, all the horror is in the way humans treat each other.
I’d wait until high school to read this one– it’s got some harrowing moments. There’s also an implied sexual relationship between one of the students, in her late teens, and her “counselor”, who is in his twenties.

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

After the death of her mother, Gemma Doyle is sent from her home in India to a young ladies’ boarding school in Victorian England. Gemma has visions, and her unusual upbringing and uncanny knowledge mean a chilly reception from the other girls. Gemma learns to control the visions so she can visit magical realms. As she makes friends, she involves them in her journeys, but while the girls enjoy the power and escape they have in the realms, Gemma learns there is also a darker side. This is the first book in a trilogy: the other two books are Rebel Angels and The Sweet Far Thing. Recommended for middle school and up.

Guys, I found this! I have to admit it was totally by accident. I was browsing while my daughter looked through potential candidates for checkout at our public library, and this practically jumped out at me– it was right at my eye level (I’m short). The book is:

The Cavendish School for Boys and Girls by Claire Legrand

I was right on all the details, except that Victoria’s friend is named Lawrence, not Harris. And this is an even creepier book than I remembered it being. It’s over-the-top gothic and has a weird fiction feel to it as well. Edward Gorey would probably love it. If you have a tween who is into fantastic, creepy gothic stories, All Hallows’ Read is coming up soon.

This one’s for me. I am going bananas! I read this book just a few weeks ago and I can’t remember the name. A middle school girl, Victoria, who always does everything perfectly, is friends with Harris, who is awkward and embarrassing and plays the piano beautifully. One day Harris disappears from school and when she visits his parents they tell her he is visiting his grandmother, but something is clearly wrong. Kids keep disappearing from the school and even teachers seem frightened.

A boarding school has opened up on her street and when she goes to see if Harris is there, she is invited in by the proprietress who seems to think they’re alike. Eventually Victoria is trapped in the school and discovers Harris is there. It is a nightmarish, almost living building, and the job of the school is to mold everyone into behaving beautifully and identically. The cover was white with that kind of gothic look to the illustration and text that you see in a lot of children’s books now. I cannot remember the name of the book. The title was Miss or Mrs. ——- School for ——– or something similar. It’s a relatively new book. Can anyone place it?