Study Guide

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Prologue

By Ransom Riggs

Prologue

Our narrator tells us about his or her grandfather, Abraham Portman. We don't know our narrator's name yet. Could it be Natalie?
Grandpa Portman (don't call him Grandpa Abe) fought in wars, performed in circuses, and spoke three languages.
His grandchild wanted to be an explorer, used to pretend to be a pirate, and dreamed of traveling the world.
Grandpa used to tell the "tallest tales" (Prologue.4) about monsters with tentacles coming out of their mouths, and how he used to live in a magical place where no one got sick or died, and they all lived in a house protected by a wise old bird. Sounds like Sesame Street… well, without the tentacles.
Grandpa tries to convince "Yakob" (Prologue.11) that he's telling the truth. He even has pictures of all the "peculiar" (Prologue.13) children, like the invisible boy or the levitating girl.
Jacob tries to believe Grandpa, but eventually he can't do it anymore. He stops asking Grandpa to tell him stories, and Grandpa stops sharing.