One big change for the new book: a mix of black-and-white and, for the first time, full-color pictures. The ghost of her sister inhabits the smoke, and sometimes, depending on the day and the light and the mood of the sister, you can just make out her face in it.'

She's a sad case, tormented by a cloud of black smoke that trails her wherever she goes. 'Like all the kids on my covers, she's also a character you'll meet in the story. 'It's beautiful and fascinating, and the girl has a melancholy about her that exemplifies some of the book's big themes,' he says. Vintage photographs of children on the cover and inside the books have been a signature of the Miss Peregrine's novels, and the one on the A Map of Days jacket comes from a friend's photo collection that struck a chord with Riggs.

The original books, the author says, told a 'fish-out-of-water story in which Jacob discovers this unfamiliar world of peculiars, and I've been having lots of fun turning that on its head, throwing his peculiar friends into the equally alien-to-them world of modern-day America.' 'It's a dramatic opening-up of the universe.' 'I always envisioned the world of the peculiars as one that spans the globe, not just the UK, so setting this story in America let me explore a whole new peculiar society with their own rules and history and way of doing things,' Riggs says. After traveling to 1940 and back, Jacob, love interest Emma, their protector Miss Peregrine and their friends are trying to blend into their new environment in the present day - which means beach visits and doing their best to be normal. The novel kicks off a new trilogy in Riggs' best-selling young-adult saga, which began with 2011's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and was adapted into a 2016 film directed by Tim Burton and starring Asa Butterfield and Eva Green.Ī Map of Days catches up with Jacob Portman returning to his Florida home after helping save 'the peculiars' (people with special powers) from a monstrous threat.

USA TODAY can reveal the jacket (see photo), the title - A Map of Days - and the on-sale date, Oct. The fantasy world of Ransom Riggs' popular Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series heads to America in the upcoming fourth book. And you thought Florida already was full of peculiar folks.

Second book of miss peregrine