Rooftoppers
by Katherine Rundell
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Description
When authorities threaten to take Sophie, twelve, from Charles who has been her guardian since she was one and both survived a shipwreck, the pair goes to Paris to try to find Sophie's mother, and they are aided by Matteo and his band of "rooftoppers."Tags
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Member Recommendations
daffodil152 Both are middle grade books with a similar writing style and tone, featuring heroines who are wild and free!
Member Reviews
When the Queen Mary sinks in the middle of the English Channel, a baby is found floating in a cello case. Eccentric scholar Charles Maxim determines to take in the baby and raise her as his own. Baby Sophie thrives on Charles' haphazard parenting style, but when the authorities disagree and plan on putting Sophie in an orphanage, Sophie and Charles must make one desperate attempt to find the person Sophie most wants to meet in the entire world: her mother. The search will take Sophie to the rooftops of Paris, where she will have many strange adventures -- but will she succeed in the one thing that is most important to her?
The writing in this book reminded me a little bit of Noel Streatfeild and a little bit of Roald Dahl, in all the show more best ways. It's a gentle sort of story, but it's not lacking adventure or humor. It has the quirky, dreamy quality of music and poetry, but it's also grounded in things like skinned knees and sausages cooked over an open fire. This is just the sort of book I would have loved at age eight or nine, and I hope it will find those same enthusiastic readers among today's children. show less
The writing in this book reminded me a little bit of Noel Streatfeild and a little bit of Roald Dahl, in all the show more best ways. It's a gentle sort of story, but it's not lacking adventure or humor. It has the quirky, dreamy quality of music and poetry, but it's also grounded in things like skinned knees and sausages cooked over an open fire. This is just the sort of book I would have loved at age eight or nine, and I hope it will find those same enthusiastic readers among today's children. show less
Everyone thinks that Sophie is an orphan. True, there were no other recorded female survivors from the shipwreck which left baby Sophie floating in the English Channel in a cello case, but Sophie remembers seeing her mother wave for help. Her guardian tells her it is almost impossible that her mother is still alive, but that means still possible. You should never ignore a possible. So when the Welfare Agency writes to her guardian threatening to send Sophie to an orphanage, she takes matters into her own hands and flees to Paris to look for her mother, starting with the only clue she has - the address of the cello maker. Evading the French authorities, she meets Matteo and his network of rooftoppers - urchins who live in the sky. show more Together they scour the city for Sophie's mother before she is caught and sent back to London, and most importantly before she loses hope. show less
I used to love snuggling up with a good book as a kid, oblivious to the world around me and Rooftoppers has taken me back in time and left me wanting more! Written for middle grade readers in the 8-14 age group it’s a rip-roaring adventure. Like many adventure tales you have to be prepared to believe the unbelievable and have faith in heroes and heroines. The writing is excellent, the characters quirky and Katherine Rundell has a master skill with words! This is just the sort of book I’d have loved back when I was a kid and although I’ve just turned 69 it has gone right up there with all my favourites! Writing that can bridge a cross section of readers is a rare and wonderful thing. If you want to read something memorable, show more something to make you feel young again or know someone young that you’d like to surprise, go out and get THIS BOOK!
‘… never ignore a possibility.” show less
‘… never ignore a possibility.” show less
A lovely little novel about a girl who survived a shipwreck as a baby, was adopted by another survivor, and goes in search of her mother at age 12. This search (she refers to herself as a "mother-hunter") takes her and her adopted father from London to Paris, as they evade the British authorities who no longer see him as a suitable guardian (as he lets her wear trousers and does not teach her proper etiquette) and the French police who do not like the questions being asked of them.
The title refers to children who live on the Paris rooftops, because anything is better than a Paris orphanage.
Rundell's prose is exquisite, but I wanted more. The ending felt a little abrupt and incomplete to me. If she writes a sequel, I might give this show more book a fifth star. show less
The title refers to children who live on the Paris rooftops, because anything is better than a Paris orphanage.
Rundell's prose is exquisite, but I wanted more. The ending felt a little abrupt and incomplete to me. If she writes a sequel, I might give this show more book a fifth star. show less
Supposed by all to be an orphan, Sophie was found by a fellow passenger of a downed ship floating in a cello case in the ocean. While written with children in mind, I thoroughly enjoyed this story. The writing with delightfully whimsical, with clever observations at every turn ("[It] is best to stay away from people who care too much about money, my darling. They are people with shoddy, flimsy brains.") and even chuckle-out-loud parts:
'“But it’s a child! You’re a man!”
'“Your powers of observation are formidable,” said Charles. “You are a credit to your optician.”'
The ending is abrupt and I would be eager to read a sequel to find out whatever happened to Sophie. But even as it is, this was worth the read!
'“But it’s a child! You’re a man!”
'“Your powers of observation are formidable,” said Charles. “You are a credit to your optician.”'
The ending is abrupt and I would be eager to read a sequel to find out whatever happened to Sophie. But even as it is, this was worth the read!
This is one of the loveliest books I've read in a long time. I had trouble putting it down!
Charles and Sophie's parent-child relationship is utterly refreshing and touching. And I love that Sophie is so hardcore, and so human too.
My 8-year-old would find it a little too scary/sad at the moment, I think, but I very much look forward to sharing it with him in a year or two.
Charles and Sophie's parent-child relationship is utterly refreshing and touching. And I love that Sophie is so hardcore, and so human too.
My 8-year-old would find it a little too scary/sad at the moment, I think, but I very much look forward to sharing it with him in a year or two.
You just have to love Katherine Rundell: "She begins each day with a cartwheel and believes that reading is almost exactly the same as cartwheeling: it turns the world upside down and leaves you breathless." One year old Sophie is found floating in a cello case, and is adopted by bachelor, Charles Maxim, after they survive a shipwreck. He raises her unconventionally, always encouraging her to consider the possibles. When Sophie turns 12, Social Services decides it is inappropriate for her to live with Charles, and they flee together to Paris to search for Sophie's mother, who Sophie believes is alive. In Paris, Sophie is befriended by Matteo and others, who live on the rooftops, away from the prying eyes of society. Their adventures are show more fun and magical. Also liked that Rundell used the names of animal groups liberally, such as a murder of crows, a murmuration of starlings, a knot of toads, etc. show less
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Author Information
23+ Works 5,837 Members
Katherine Rundell was born in 1987. She is a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. Her books include The Girl Savage and The Wolf Wilder. She received several awards including the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and the Blue Peter Award in 2014 for Rooftoppers, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms, and the Costa show more Award for Children's book in 2017 for The Explorers. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Awards
Distinctions
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 2012
- People/Characters
- Sophie; Charles Maxim; Matteo; Anastasia; Safi; Gérard
- Important places
- Paris, France; London, England, UK
- Dedication
- To my brother, with love
- First words
- On the morning of its first birthday, a baby was found floating in a cello case in the middle of the English Channel.
- Quotations
- It wasn’t easy to breathe that morning. It seemed there was too much hope in her chest for the air to fit alongside.
“You look as though you own a minimum of one pony. You look nothing like yourself. Well done.”
The trick was knowing where to find your center; balance lay somewhere between her stomach and her kidneys. It felt like a lump of gold in amongst brown organs.
He (Gérard) wore a musty, weevil-eaten jacket, which looked as though he had made it himself from a selection of doormats. Sophie coveted it immediately. ... His English was a little halting, but he had a good face. His ey... (show all)ebrows were thick enough to shine shoes with, and his eyes were gentle. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The music must have stopped, Charles knew, because the cello was lying on the rooftop, forgotten, but there seeemed to be music still playing, somewhere, faster and faster, double time.
Classifications
- Genres
- Kids, Tween, Fiction and Literature, Children's Books
- DDC/MDS
- 823.92 — Literature & rhetoric English & Old English literatures English fiction 1900- 2000-
- LCC
- PZ7 .R88827 .R — Language and Literature Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Juvenile belles lettres
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 927
- Popularity
- 28,642
- Reviews
- 42
- Rating
- (3.92)
- Languages
- 10 — Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Latvian, Portuguese, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 44
- ASINs
- 9
