Rooftoppers

Product Information

a b c d de Lisle, Tim (22 January 2017). "British Novelist Bringing Edwardian Wit Off-Broadway". Newsweek. New York City . Retrieved 23 January 2017. The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2022". The Baillie Gifford Prize . Retrieved 17 November 2022. Sophie and Charles did not live neatly, but neatness, Sophie thought, was not necessary for happiness.”

I feel it would take quite a bit to make me want to scramble around on Parisian rooftops. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not scared of heights in any way, and the views… well, they’d be pretty incredible, wouldn’t they?There is a wistful, old-fashioned charm to Katherine Rundell’s second book: her poetic language and imaginative approach set this book apart from many other adventure stories for this age group. Whimsical, beautifully-written and as carefully balanced as the tightrope Sophie learns to walk, Rooftoppers is a sensitive and emotionally-resonant novel with an uplifting message about the power of hope. Charles and Sophie go to the police station to find out if Vivienne was on the records of the sinking ship. The police refuse to let them see the ship’s records, which makes Charles and Sophie suspicious . I think kids might appreciate the use of language, whereas I found some of it a bit kitschy. There were descriptions and even minor plot elements that chose quirky aesthetic sweetness over actual usefulness. A Chelsea bun that tastes like blue skies? It's a lovely sentence, but I'm no closer to knowing what that bun tastes like. And having a suit where a heart should be? It's been done - in fact, I'm pretty sure Meg Ryan says something very similar in You've Got Mail. But for young readers/writers just learning to wrangle words into a particular voice, this kind of language can be engaging and open up new possibilities. I enjoyed it tremendously ... The next time I go to Paris I will be looking up at the rooftops' - Jacqueline Wilson My main complaint is that the ending was rather abrupt and didn't exactly fit the flow of the story. Also at one point Charles tells Sophie that keeping secrets from him is okay (idk exactly what he means by that) which isn't exactly something you'd want your kid doing so..... Other than that, I loved the whimsical feeling to the story and the children who live on rooftops (especially Matteo who was so cute 🥰)

sophie is our young heroine, charles the man who took her in as a baby when she was found in the water after the capsizing of a boat, and miss eliot the social worker who disapproves of the whole situation. here: Helen Dunmore wins posthumous Costa poetry prize". BBC News Online. 2 January 2018 . Retrieved 2 January 2018. Short and sweet - an urban fairytale targeted at children that should be reviewed in the spirit it was written and not by grown-up standards. In 2022, she published Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne, which won the 2022 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction [24] [25] and was praised by Claire Tomalin and Andrew Motion, among others. [26] What distinguishes Rundell's biography and makes it worth reading is, according to Professor of English Literature Joe Moshenska in Literary Review, that she is above all a writer, well-versed in the art of prose: "Rather than telling us why Donne is worth reading and absorbing into one’s way of thinking, her writing shows us." [27]It was the green that emeralds and dragons usually come in; which felt to Sophie like a good omen.” The setting moves between the rooftops of London and Paris as our charming pair of criminals run from the authorities who wish to take Sophie away. Behind this, though, is the search for Sophie's mother and all they have to lead the way is the cello and it's music.

When they began to play the music was different. It was sweeter and wilder. Sophie sat up properly and shifted forward until only half an inch of her bottom was on the seat. It was so beautiful that it was difficult for her to breathe. If music can shine, Sophie thought, this music shone. It was like all the voices in all the choirs in the city rolled into a single melody. Her chest felt oddly swollen. There is so much love for life, language and adventure in this book. It has you wishing you were the kind of person who could go racing around rooftops at midnight, seeing the whole of a beautiful European city laid out before you.I think the language and the style of the book perfectly complimented Sophie’s rather strange upbringing and the fantastic and slightly naïve way she interprets what’s happening around her. She was a gorgeous narrator and definitely one of my favourite middle grade heroines. Fearless, inquisitive and completely adorable; she truly was brilliant. Maxim and Sophie, threatened with immediate eviction to an orphanage, decide to run out of the country and head to Paris, chasing a wild dream of finding the girl's mother from a clue hidden in the cello box. Mother-hunting becomes the main interest for Sophie. Without impunding in any way her love for Charles, the girl is in need of "A place to put down her heart. A resting stop to recover her breath. A set of stars and maps." The Parisian authorities prove to be even more inflexible and corrupt than the London ones, and Sophie only finds help and understanding in a band of outlaws and orphans like herself - a group of lost children living like savages among the rooftops of the city. Thus is the rooftoppers club born, an a charming novel written. Perhaps the pacing of the story was a conscious attempt by the author to mimic the theme of racing music. Cello music played double time is actually an important plot point in Rooftoppers. However, even if, interpreted in the most flattering light, the plot pacing was meant to replicate the musical theme, as a reader, I still found it to be unsatisfying. However, once the book became plot driven, with Sophie and Charles going on a journey to find her mother, it lost its magic for me. Miss Eliot also disliked Charles's hands, which were inky, and his hat, which was coming adrift round the brim. She disapproved of Sophie's clothes.

Let me just talk about my love for the characters. Sophie and Charles were impossible not to grow fond of. When Sophie was a baby Charles found her floating on the English Channel in a cello case and took her in to raise her in his humble, book-filled apartment. In the end, I felt that the beginning of Rooftoppers reminded me of the important things in life, the idea that love is much more important than acting "proper" or "normal." But the rest of the book was not much more than a middle-grade, plot-driven, journey story. karen pretty much nailed it when she said this was "classic-feeling". This whimsical historical tale has something timeless and wonderful about it - like all the best children's classics. The characters are so well-drawn and memorable, and the writing sparkles with a certain bittersweetness. Sophie meets a boy called Matteo . Matteo is also an orphan and lives on the rooftops to avoid being found. He agrees to help Sophie in her search.The Explorer. Illustrated by Hannah Horn. Bloomsbury Publishing, 1 September 2017. ISBN 9781408854877 [29] So yeah, OK, I actually did have a lot to say about this book. But I really, really loved it and I really hope other people join Sophie for her adventure because it’s truly magical. I absolutely can’t wait to see where else Ms Rundell’s stories takes me. Fisher, Philip (3 August 2016). "Life According to Saki". British Theatre Guide . Retrieved 23 January 2017.