Rooftoppers

Starred review from July 29, 2013
A baby found floating in a cello case in the English Channel, and Charles Maxim, a scholar and fellow survivor of a mysterious shipwreck, become an unconventional family, guided by the philosophy that “You should never ignore a possible.” Permissive but caring, Charles lets the baby, whom he names Sophie, write on walls, eat off books, climb things, and indulge in “mother-watching” as the years pass, until unwanted attention from the National Childcare Agency sends them in search of Sophie’s cello-playing mother. In Paris, 12-year-old Sophie takes to the rooftops, guided by irrepressible roof-dweller Matteo, an orphanage escapee who literally shows her the ropes; in one breathtaking scene, he walks her on a tightrope between buildings (“Grip with your toes. Left. Stop. Do not look down”). Eccentric, tactile food imagery appears throughout, from Charles’s pork pie served on the Bible to Matteo’s fresh-cooked rat. While the children’s uncanny survival skills take occasionally graphic turns, as in a brutal fight between rooftopper tribes, the beauty of sky, music, and the belief in “extraordinary things” triumph in this whimsical and magical tale. Ages 8–12. Agent: Claire Wilson, Rogers, Coleridge & White.

Starred review from August 1, 2013
"Never ignore a possible." Sophie takes her beloved guardian's words to heart and never gives up on finding her long-lost mother. One-year-old Sophie is found floating in a cello case in the English Channel by Charles Maxim, a fellow passenger on the freshly sunk Queen Mary: "He noticed that it was a girl, with hair the color of lightning, and the smile of a shy person." He decides to keep her. The bookish pair lives a harmonious, gloriously unorthodox life together--she prefers trousers to skirts, knows the collective noun for toads and uses atlases as plates. The National Childcare Agency does not approve, so when a clue in Sophie's cello case links her mother to Paris, Charles and Sophie decide to skip town after her 12th birthday. Once ensconced in her Parisian attic hideaway, Sophie gets a skylight visit from a teenage "rooftopper" named Matteo, who eats pigeons and never, ever descends to street level. Sophie--anxious to help Charles find her mother--secretly joins the boy atop Paris night after night, listening for her cello-playing. Vivid descriptions of fierce kids in survival mode and death-defying rooftop scrambles are breathlessly exciting, as is the bubbling suspense of Sophie's impassioned search for the possible. Brava! This witty, inventively poetic, fairy-tale-like adventure shimmers with love, magic and music. (Adventure. 9-12)

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Starred review from December 1, 2013

Gr 4-6-Sophie has been living with her loving guardian, Charles Maxim, for almost all of her 12 years, ever since she was rescued as a baby from a floating cello case after a shipwreck. Charles reads Shakespeare aloud to her, serves her roast potato chips on an open atlas (owing to her penchant for breaking plates), and allows her to wear pants. In this 19th-century world, the Dickensian Miss Eliot, of the National Childcare Agency, decides that Charles is an unfit guardian and that Sophie must become a ward of the state. She and Charles escape to Paris, and it is there that Sophie begins her search for her mother, who, she is convinced, is alive after all and not drowned. Confined for security reasons to an attic room, she begins to explore the rooftops and meets an extraordinary boy, Matteo, who lives and scavenges entirely on the roofs. Life up there is full of dangers, and Sophie's determination to find her mother lands her in some tough situations. Ultimately, however, with the help of Matteo and Charles, her quest comes to a genuinely touching and satisfying conclusion. Rundell's gentle poetic style gives Sophie's story a full-heartedness that makes it take flight at times and sweeps readers along with it. In describing Charles, Rundell writes: "Think of nighttime with a speaking voice. Or think how moonlight might talk, or think of ink, if ink had vocal chords." Realistic fiction with the feel of fantasy, this atmospheric novel will appeal to a wide range of middle-grade readers.-Sue Giffard, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York City

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Starred review from September 1, 2013
Grades 4-6 *Starred Review* When a ship sinks, a one-year-old baby is found floating in a cello case in the English Channel, wrapped in the score of a symphony. She is saved by one of the passengers, a gangly young scholar named Charles Maxwell. Charles decides to keep her. This will cause problems because a single man having a young girl as his ward is frowned upon in 1890s London. Until then, Sophie has a wonderful life living in his drafty house, being taught all manner of interesting things by Charles, and wearing whatever she likes, especially trousers. Yet, one thing bothers Sophie very much: she is sure her mother is still alive. When Sophie is 12, the authorities order her to an orphanage. Instead, Sophie and Charles flee to Paris, where the cello case was madethe first clue to her origins. What follows is a glorious adventure set mostly on the rooftops of Paris. Sophie meets Matteo, who lives on Parisian roofs, and his pals, street kids who help her in her quest. The story is magic, though not in the usual sense. Rundell's writing is suffused with sparkling imagesSophie's hair is the color of lightningand she writes with a perfect mix of dreaminess and humor. The characters shine, too: Charles, the perfect guardian, who uses toast as a bookmark; Matteo, miserable and marvelous by turns; and the inimitable, unsinkable (literally) Sophie, who doesn't give up. Here's a heartwarming charmer.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)