  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 06/01/2011 Gr 8 Up—Sixteen-year-old Jacob, traumatized by his grandfather's sudden, violent death, travels with his father to a remote island off the coast of Wales to find the orphanage where his grandfather was sent to live to escape Nazi persecution in Poland. When he arrives, he finds much more than he bargained for: the children from his grandfather's stories are still at the orphanage, living in a time loop in 1940. The monsters that killed Jacob's grandfather are hunting for "peculiar" children, those with special talents, and the group at the orphanage is in danger. Jacob must face the possibility that he, too, has certain traits that the monsters are after and that he is being stalked by adults he trusted. This complex and suspenseful story incorporates eerie photographs of children with seemingly impossible attributes and abilities, many of whom appear as characters in the story. The mysterious photographs add to the bizarre and slightly creepy tone of the book. Jacob is a strong and believable character, though only a few of the secondary characters are fully realized. The pacing of the story is good, alternating action sequences with Jacob's discoveries of his grandfather's long-hidden secrets. Readers will find this book unique and intriguing.—Misti Tidman, formerly at Boyd County Public Library, Ashland, KY - Copyright 2011 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Loading...
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