Rose is about a orphan who learns what she can really do. Rose by Holly Webb and is a great fourth grade book. The main character is named…well…Rose. Rose is a kind-hearted orphan who gets chosen to work at the most famous magician’s house! When Rose learns she has magic too, she tries to get rid of it. If she can’t get rid of it, can she at least learn how to use it properly? Someone puts her magic to the test when children are being stolen and Rose has to save the day. The beginning takes place in St. Bridget’s Home For Abandoned Children; after that most of the story takes place in Mr Fountain’s mansion.
As the first book of the four book Rose series, this book really explains who Rose is. Rose gets picked up from the orphanage to work at the house because she could’ve used her powers in bad ways by accident! There are lots of problems for Rose including when the St. Bridget orphans go missing. Another problem is the mean housecleaner Susan, who despises Rose. Rose decides to save the orphans with the snobby Freddie from the Fountain mansion which might not go as well as planned but Rose won’t give up. Rose is a determined character who struggles through the twists and turns of all the magic and weird things going on in the Fountain mansion. Rose only wants to be a housemaid and she really tries to be an obedient servant and kind orphan. For example, Rose says “It’s not that I don’t want to stay,” she murmured. “But I’d like to earn my own living.”
I really enjoyed the first Rose book and I am reading the second Rose book right now. I love the descriptions in the book and how they build Rose’s personality throughout the book. I also liked how Holly Webb added a mean servant because it gives Rose more challenges. I would recommend this book for nine to ten year olds because it has some hard words and long pages. I would recommend Rose to kids who like series of books because Rose is a four book series including Rose, Rose and the Lost Princess, Rose and the Magician’s Mask, and Rose and the Silver Ghost. Over all, I would rate Rose five stars.