Geri Halliwell-Horner’s Rosie Frost and the Falcon Queen is a spooky school mystery for 10 year olds, with a ghost, a locked case and a lot of grief at its heart.<\/p>\n
Rosie is thirteen and has never felt she belongs anywhere. At her London school she’s the clever one, the ginger one, the one who gets picked on. When a teacher’s copy of Jane Eyre goes missing, it turns up in Rosie’s rucksack (she didn’t take it).<\/p>\n
Then she’s called to the head’s office. She thinks she’s in trouble. She isn’t. A police officer is waiting to tell her that her mum died that morning.<\/p>\n
By the evening she’s in a helicopter heading for Bloodstone Island. All she has is a suitcase and a small locked red case from her mum, which she mustn’t open until she’s with Miss Churchill, the head.<\/p>\n
The island is home to Heverbridge School, opened by Queen Elizabeth I in honour of her mother, Anne Boleyn. Miss Churchill is away. The smooth deputy head, Mr Hemlock, takes the red case off Rosie within minutes. And a girl called Ottilie locks her in a portrait gallery all night as an “initiation”.<\/p>\n
Then, at three in the morning, a woman in a green velvet gown walks straight out of the wall.<\/p>\n
It’s a proper page-turner. History runs all the way through it (Emmeline Pankhurst, Mary Seacole and Charlotte Bront\u00eb all hang on that gallery wall). And there’s a big contest ahead, the Falcon Queen Games, which Rosie decides she has to win once the island is in danger.<\/p>\n
Rosie is easy to root for. She’s prickly and brave. She and her mum had a secret signal for bad days, a pineapple emoji, and Rosie keeps sending them after the news. That little detail will probably get you right in the throat.<\/p>\n
A heads-up for parents. The death of Rosie’s mum comes in the very first chapter, and Rosie is raw with grief in the chapters that follow. There’s bullying, a ghost at night and plenty of talk about Anne Boleyn’s execution. Rosie is a teenager too, older than most readers on this shelf, and she swears mildly once or twice.<\/p>\n
For a child who has recently lost someone, this could be a lot. For a reader who likes their mystery with real feeling and a good dose of history, it’s very satisfying.<\/p>\n
If they fall for Rosie, they’ll probably love The Trials of Morrigan Crow. Morrigan also gets the blame for everything that goes wrong around her, until she’s offered a way out to a magical city and has to win her place there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Geri Halliwell-Horner’s Rosie Frost and the Falcon Queen is a spooky school mystery for 10 year olds, with a ghost, a locked case and a lot of grief at its heart. Rosie is thirteen and has never felt she belongs anywhere. At her London school she’s the clever one, the ginger one, the one who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13101,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":8279,"lr_next_read_anchor":"The Trials of Morrigan Crow","lr_seo_hook":"A grieving girl, a locked red case and a ghost who walks out of the wall."},"book_tag":[22],"age_group":[29],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[349],"class_list":["post-8522","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-mystery-books","age_group-books-for-10-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-geri-halliwell-horner"],"yoast_title":"Rosie Frost and the Falcon Queen by Geri Halliwell-Horner | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"A grieving girl, a locked red case and a ghost who walks out of the wall. For ages 10+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n