Miss
Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children:
A Model
for Photo Narratives and More
One of the best
young adult novels that I have read recently is Miss Peregrine's
Home for Peculiar Children,
which is written by Ransom Riggs. While Miss Peregrine's
Home for Peculiar Children is a
must read because it is an enthralling story, it is also fascinating
because of the bizarre collection of antique found photographs that
compliment the text. The story begins with Jacob who suffers the loss
of a family member, has a breakdown, discovers a letter and photos
that lead him to travel to an island, which his parents allow because
they think the trip will ease his mental issues. While on the
island, Jacob explores an abandoned orphanage where he finds even
more bizarre photos of the children that used to live in the
orphanage. Also, he discovers that these bizarre orphaned children
are still alive. Ultimately, what makes Miss Peregrine's
Home for Peculiar Children a
great read is the creative concept of developing a story line that
evolves from photos, which would be a great stimulant for writing.
Specifically,
I saw the concept of using photographs to inspire writing when
participating in a workshop entitled “Beyond the 5-Paragraph Theme:
A Free Hands-On Workshop for K-12 Teachers of Writing,” which was
offered through the University of Virginia's Writing Program. During
the seminar, instructors provided guidelines for developing a
photographic essay based on W. J. T. Mitchell's “The Photographic
Essay: Four Case Studies” (qtd. in Seitz, Sullivan, and Heny). In
terms of selecting photos, the instructors recommended that students
should select photos that provide information and/or emotion.
Another pointer that was offered was to use a range of photos to
include close-ups, detail shots, actions shots, different points of
view shots, photos of a scene, photos of an object, and portraits in
order to create a narrative or other forms of writing. The
recommended starting length of an assignment was 200 – 500 words,
but could be adjusted up or down dependent on the direction of the
narrative or other writing. The recommended number of pictures for
the assignment was 5 – 10, but was dependent on the complexity of
the photos and how they are used by the writer (Seitz, Sullivan, and
Heny). These assignment standards could be met by students of
varying ability levels and are flexible enough to accommodate
students who may need the assignment modified.
In
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children,
students have a model for the selection, range, and effect of Rigg's
photo selections, which leads to the use of higher level critical
thinking skills. Students can analyze the mood created with the
photos in the novel. For example, the novel contains a picture of a
boy in a bunny suit who is looking down at the sidewalk (Riggs 90).
Riggs references the photo in his narrative in the following manner:
“My grandmother had bought my dad this ridiculous pink bunny
costume, and he put it on and sat by the driveway waiting for Grandpa
Portman to come home from five o'clock until nightfall, but he never
did. Grandma was so mad that she took a picture of my dad crying in
the street just so she could show my grandfather what a huge asshole
he was” (89). Prior to reading the accompanying passage, this
photo could spark a discussion on photo observations, predictions,
and mood. Following the reading of the passage, students can
determine the mood and tone as well as make judgments on the
effectiveness of the author's coupling of the photo with the
narrative. Additionally, Riggs' photos can model the range of
photos, which range from closeups to actions shots, that students can
use in their own writing. Students can identify the types of shots
that are used in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar
Children in order to build the
vocabulary and background knowledge to select their own photos for
their narrative. Thus, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar
Children is a great model for
creating a narrative with photos, which can lead students to develop
their critical thinking and writing skills whether the purpose is to
entertain, inform, or persuade. As long as students can select
photos that they feel spark their interest, then this will spark the
written response as well.
I am so glad you shared this book with the class. I definitely want to pick up a copy. I love the idea of having students examine the photos and create their own narrative. Using images to start a creative writing exercise is an excellent idea. Have you ever done this in your classroom?
ReplyDeleteI have not used the lesson I mentioned in my blog, but I have encouraged students to incorporate pictures in various assignments to include a memoir assignment. Also, I have had students incorporate photos in order to develop character sketches for plays that they have written. I'm sure there are other ways we have incorporated pictures in assignments, but I have not had students specifically build a story around photos like Riggs does. I think the student response will be very positive. They love to be creative and often complain that they have not been creative since the 5th grade. I don't know if that is true.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like such an exciting idea! As the arts-integration advocate, I love this. If you also teach art standards alongside the analysis of the photographs, then you would be truly integrating the arts. What makes this a good photograph? What emotions does it invoke? Why? I don't know the actual art standards, but as long as you hit one of them, you would be successfully integrating the arts.
DeleteGood luck!
Side note: I am going to try to get this book approved by an administrator and will attach the blog response as justification. I think the text will be adopted because the book is appropriate in terms of our administrator's expectations.
ReplyDeleteGood luck Dawn! I am also really excited about the ideas you've presented here. It is a beautifully art-integrated idea!
ReplyDelete