Picture of author.
27+ Works 42,753 Members 1,739 Reviews 29 Favorited

About the Author

Ransom Riggs is a writer and filmmaker. He was born in Marland in 1980 and attended the Pine View School for the Gifted in Florida. He studied English literature at Kenyon College and studied film at the University of Southern California. His work on short films for the Internet and blogging for show more Mental Floss magazine got him a job writing The Sherlock Holmes Handbook which was released as a tie-in to the 2009 Sherlock Holmes film. Riggs had collected curious vernacular photographs and approached his publisher, Quirk Books, about using some of them in a picture book. On the suggestion of an editor, Riggs used the photographs as a guide from which to put together a narrative. The resulting book was Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children which made The New York Times Best Seller list. One of his other books inspired by old photographs entitled Taking Pictures was published in 2012. Hollow City, the sequel to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, also made The New York Times Best Seller List. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Goodreads

Series

Works by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2011) 20,431 copies, 1,155 reviews
Hollow City (2014) 8,538 copies, 284 reviews
Library of Souls (2015) 5,536 copies, 140 reviews
A Map of Days (2018) 2,127 copies, 28 reviews
Tales of the Peculiar (2016) 1,814 copies, 41 reviews
The Conference of the Birds (2020) 1,288 copies, 13 reviews
The Desolations of Devil's Acre (2021) 903 copies, 9 reviews
Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children Boxed Set (2015) 443 copies, 3 reviews
Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders (2022) 216 copies, 3 reviews
Hollow City: The Graphic Novel (2016) 142 copies, 2 reviews
Scatterbrained (2006) — Author — 126 copies, 3 reviews

Associated Works

The Wonderful O (1957) — Introduction, some editions — 848 copies, 17 reviews
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children [2016 film] (2016) — Author — 468 copies, 3 reviews
The Art of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016) — Foreword — 55 copies, 1 review

Tagged

2011 (92) 2014 (73) adventure (168) children (105) ebook (227) England (75) fantasy (2,352) favorites (79) fiction (1,693) goodreads (101) gothic (102) hardcover (90) historical fiction (186) horror (445) Kindle (160) library (78) magic (84) Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children (166) monsters (197) mystery (424) novel (131) orphans (223) own (171) owned (77) paranormal (570) photographs (195) photography (273) Ransom Riggs (81) read (283) science fiction (185) series (348) supernatural (416) teen (78) time travel (722) to-read (2,692) Wales (224) WWII (391) YA (694) young adult (1,105) young adult fiction (185)

Common Knowledge

Birthdate
1979-02-03
Gender
male
Nationality
USA
Birthplace
Maryland, USA
Places of residence
Maryland, USA
Florida, USA
Los Angeles, California, USA
Education
Kenyon College (BA ∙ English ∙ 2001)
University of Southern California (film ∙ 2006)
Pine View School for the Gifted
Occupations
young adult writer
filmmaker
blogger
Relationships
Mafi, Tahereh (spouse)
Organizations
MentalFloss.com
Agent
Kate Schafer Testerman (KT Literary)
Short biography
Ransom Riggs (born February 3, 1979) is an American writer and filmmaker best known for the book Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Riggs was born in Maryland in 1979 on a 200-year-old farm, and grew up in Florida, where he attended Pine View School for the Gifted. He studied English literature at Kenyon College, where he was a good friend of John Green. He later studied film at the University of Southern California.

His work on short films for the Internet and blogging for Mental Floss got him a job writing The Sherlock Holmes Handbook which was released as a tie-in to the 2009 Sherlock Holmes film.

Riggs had collected curious vernacular photographs and approached his publisher, Quirk Books, about using some of them in a picture book. On the suggestion of an editor, Riggs used the photographs as a guide from which to put together a narrative. The resulting book was Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, which made The New York Times Best Seller list, and was adapted into the 2016 film of the same name.

Another book inspired by old photographs, Talking Pictures, was published by HarperCollins in October 2012.

The second novel in the Miss Peregrine series, Hollow City, was released in January 2014, with the third installment, Library of Souls, following in September 2015. A spin-off book of short stories, Tales of the Peculiar, was released in September 2016. The fourth novel in the series, A Map of Days, was released in October 2018. The fifth novel in the series, The Conference of the Birds, was released in January 2020.

Riggs married author Tahereh Mafi in 2013. They lived in Santa Monica, California and later moved to Irvine, California. Their first child, a daughter, Layla (means "night" in arabic), was born on May, 30, 2017.

Members

Reviews

What a peculiar imagination—full of unique characters. The ending left you hanging, so I recommend buying the whole series before starting. Otherwise, it's a good trip to fantasy island.
 
Flagged
GrammyTammyM | 1,154 other reviews | Dec 28, 2024 |
3.5
If you like the movie Onward and scavenger hunts, Diagon alley and Percy Jackson.
A painfully average almost 17 year old suffers with hallucinations from an 80s tv show but it turns out they were real.
It ended very abruptly with a lot of questions unanswered. Leopold is angry at his ‘mediocrity, his dad’s disappointment and the death of his mother. But when sunderland turns out to be real he finds hope that maybe he has a purpose after all.
Hates being called Larry but then introduces himself as Larry?
Writing is basic and characters aren’t likeable.
Narrative zigzagged and was chaotic.
“The whole arc of his life had led him to this moment.”
… (more)
 
Flagged
spiritedstardust | 7 other reviews | Dec 24, 2024 |
Quick read !! I love the Peculiar Children series. I love the ending and am very excited/anxious to read the next book.
 
Flagged
katy_reads | 12 other reviews | Dec 22, 2024 |
I absolutely adored this book. It was one that I didn't want to put down and if I could have I would have read all in one sitting. It's got action, it's got adventure, it's got supernatural, it's got demons, and it's got a bit or romance, it's perfect. Absolutely amazing and I can't wait to read the other two in the trilogy. If I could give it more than 5 stars I would. I HIGHLY recommend this book. I can't say enough good things. Loved, loved, loved it.
 
Flagged
Beammey | 1,154 other reviews | Dec 21, 2024 |

Lists

Ghosts (1)

Awards

You May Also Like

Associated Authors

Cassandra Jean Illustrator
John Green Editor
Hank Green Author
Doogie Horner Designer
Tahereh Mafi Author photo
John J. McGurk Production management
Andrew Davidson Illustrator

Statistics

Works
27
Also by
3
Members
42,753
Popularity
#401
Rating
3.8
Reviews
1,739
ISBNs
454
Languages
26
Favorited
29

Charts & Graphs