In Miss Peregrine’s
Home for Peculiar Children: the Hollow City the hero is Jacob. He fits the
pattern of a Hero. Jacob goes through a psychological transformation that would
classify him as a Modern or Hemingway Hero. In the second book, Jacob can also
be classified as an Epic Hero.
In the
second installment of The Peculiar Children series, Jacob is still trying to
figure out who he is and what he is supposed to do with his life. He feels he
has an obligation to help Miss Peregrine because of how she helped his
grandfather, but he also feels he does not belong in 1940 with all of the other
Peculiar Children. During the course of their journey, Jacob comes to realize
that he is meant to be a big part of the war with the hollows because of his
great power. He also understands that he has a connection with the Peculiar
Children and he could never just leave them behind and go back to his normal
life. These realizations show Jacob’s psychological transformation from an
unsure teenager, to a confident leader in the oncoming war. This is how Jacob
embodies the Hemingway Hero.
Jacob
is also goes on a long journey during the book. Along the way, he creates new
allies such as the blind brothers, the gypsies, and Miss Wren. He faces many
adversaries, mostly hollows and hollowgasts, along with learning critical
information about the hollow’s plans. Jacob is a loyal and brave friend of the
Peculiar Children and they all feel very strongly for him. His transformation
throughout the book is that he becomes more confident in his powers and more
ready for action. Jacob differs from other Epic Heroes because he does have a “super
power” (aka he’s peculiar). But there are other things that make Jacob
different than heroes such as Odysseus. Unlike, Odysseus who learned hubris
from his journey, Jacob learned to believe in himself. Odysseus went from being
cocky to humble and Jacob went from being unsure to confident. Most epic heroes
learn hubris but Jacob already knew how to be humble. He went his whole life
being a nobody so that’s not the lesson he needed to take away from his
journey. Although the war is not over yet, Jacob has already changed a lot. We
will have to wait and see in the next book if Jacob returns home a completely
different person.
If I
chose any character from another book that Jacob shares similar traits to, it
would be Percy Jackson. Although, I think that Percy is a more likeable
character than Jacob, they share some similar characteristics. They both go
from being nobody’s to playing key roles in giant wars. Both follow an Epic
Hero’s journey but have super powers. And both Percy and Jacob learn to believe
in themselves and their abilities making them great leaders to others around
them. The reason I think Percy is more likeable than Jacob is because Jacob
whines a lot and he started dating his grandfather’s ex-girlfriend which I find
very strange. Percy is more of a Romantic
Hero and I like that about him. Also, I’ve read a lot more about Percy than
Jacob so that might affect how I see them.
The
second book of the Miss Peregrine series
was very good and I can’t wait for the next one to come out sometime next year.
It’s a long time but I think it’ll be worth the wait.
My Name is Rapunzel by K.C. Hilton
Rainbow
Rowell is fairly new to the writing scene, her first book, Attachments, published in 2011. On top of that, Eleanor & Park was her first young adult
book to be published. Keeping this in mind, while reading Eleanor & Park I have to say, it was a very solid book. Rowell
takes two outcast teenagers and turns them into an epic romance story. Usually,
in the romance genre, the popular kid falls in love with the unpopular kid. It’s
so refreshing to see that Eleanor and Park come from the same world. When
Eleanor first moves in, she immediately has a target on her back. No one will
let Eleanor sit with them on the bus and she starts to panic. In a moment of
kindness, Park tells her sit down with him. After a rocky start, the two become
friends and slowly, more than friends. They may have different family lives
but, at school, Park is the quiet Asian kid and Eleanor is the weird red-head
that wears funny clothes. Neither fit in but that’s why they go so well
together. 
Hollow
City, the second installment in the Miss
Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series was released in early 2014. Author
Ransom Riggs is best known for this hit series and is planning to publish third
book. Hollow City picks up exactly
where the first book ended. The Peculiar children are on a mission to save Miss
Peregrine, who is trapped in her bird form.
This book is very powerfully written. Riggs does a good job not
depending on the old photographs he uses to set up characters and settings.
Each character was well developed in the story. Jacob experiences a lot of
growth throughout this book. This makes the book more captivating to read. At
the beginning of the book, Jacob is unsure, lost and feels like an outcast. As
his powers grow and sharpen, he also grows and becomes more confident. During
one scene, Jacob is able to locate a hollow miles away and get his friends to
safety. Jacob learns that he does fit in with the Peculiar children even if the
come from different centuries. Riggs ability to show character development is
marvelous and it captures every reader who picks up Hollow City.
Watership
Down, by Richard Adams, was published in 1972. Adams also wrote Shardik, The Girl in a Swing, and Bureaucats. Watership Down, Adams’ first
novel, follows the adventures of a group of rabbits that escape the destruction
of their warren. The group, led by a sensible rabbit named Hazel, faces many
struggles of the wild as they try to find a new place to call home. The genre
of this book is fantasy. This isn’t some book where rabbits hop around and
graze lettuce all day, it’s an intense and intelligent book and not just anyone
should read it. It’s for young adults who are ready to dive into world of how
the society of rabbits really works: deception, cunning, tyrannical, cruel,
smart, and thrilling. One of the things that instantly made this book
astounding was the strong characters. The reader is expected to keep up with
many different rabbits and if it weren’t for Adams’ canny descriptions the
reader would be lost and irritated. Each rabbit is unique in his/her own way,
conveying a very specific skill or personality trait making them likeable and
memorable. In the opening it is said Fiver can sense the future, this leads to
the escape of the Sandleford Warren before its demise. Not a lot of author’s
could pull this off, but Adams does it well. 