A novel by Rosa Pendarves NEXT
Every Polperran child can skip to Jenny's rhyme. Demelza is the first to read it as a map — line by line, riddle by riddle, all the way down to "look under the hope."
In The Rhyme Code, Polperran’s most familiar playground chant becomes something altogether more mysterious. Every child knows Jenny’s rhyme by heart, but Demelza hears the gaps between the words and begins to read it as a map. Line by line and riddle by riddle, the village turns into a puzzle-box of half-clues, old sayings and Cornish corners, leading towards the strange final instruction: “look under the hope.”
Readers aged 9–12 will enjoy the satisfying click of each clue as Demelza works through the rhyme, with just enough shiver to keep pages turning and plenty of reassurance in the warmth of village life. The rhyming structure gives the mystery a lovely read-aloud pull, while the puzzles reward careful thinking rather than guesswork. It is adventurous without being too dark, ideal for children who like clever, grounded peril.
Part of Rosa Pendarves’s Polperran Mysteries, The Rhyme Code lets older readers explore the same fishing village they may have met in Little Chough Press’s younger series, now with deeper secrets and more demanding clues. It shares the wider Polperran feeling: harbour paths, remembered sayings, children who notice what adults miss, and a community full of stories waiting to be read in a new way.