Rooftoppers: 10th Anniversary Edition

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https://www.news18.com/viral/french-daredevil-remi-lucidi-known-for-climbing-skyscrapers-falls-to-death-from-68th-floor-8467507.html By far the best part of this book is Sophie’s relationship with her foster father, Charles. Charles always encouraged Sophie’s peculiarities and never tried to fit her into a mould. His only method of upbringing was to love Sophie as much as possible – everything else was to work itself out. Parents can learn a lot from Charles; oftentimes we try too hard and focus on all the wrong things, and in the process, we neglect what’s most important. Sophie ate from book covers because she tended to break plates; she never brushed her hair, allowing it to become a tangled mess; she wore trousers sewn by Charles when girls were expected to wear pretty dresses, and she was homeschooled, mostly on Shakespeare. But she was the happiest child, free to become the person she was meant to. After the sinking of the Victorian liner, Queen Mary, a baby girl with "hair the colour of lightning" is found floating in a cello case in the middle of the Channel. Her rescuer, the eccentric scholar Charles Maxim, names her Sophie, takes her home to London and brings her up – in defiance of the National Childcare Agency – to be as eccentric as he is. She wears homemade, brightly coloured trousers, and lives on chips, fish in tins, cheese and, occasionally, whisky. When inspectors from the NCA observe that she looks a little pale, Charles explains that she is "cut from the stuff of the moon". This book was simply wonderful and dealt with themes of friendship, love, family, and music. I loved Rundell's smart but simple writing style that was unlike most books published nowadays. She had a way of stating truths so plainly and beautifully that I just adored.

Jamie Doward (26 February 2017). "The lure of tall buildings: A guide to the risky but lucrative world of 'rooftoppers' ". The Guardian . Retrieved 3 October 2018. I have not read anything by Katherine Rundell before, but now I really want to read more by this incredibly talented author. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story. Despite the unfortunate absence of suspense, Rundell makes up for the bland narrative by occasionally employing vivid language to describe the jungle: I don’t really have that much to say about this book because I just really enjoyed it and it’s pretty much as simple as that. From the first line [ “On the morning of its first birthday, a baby was found floating in a cello case in the middle of the English Channel” ] I was tangled up in this gorgeous, unique and extremely heart-warming story about a girl with hair the colour of lightning who is searching for her mum after being rescued from a sinking ship by an eccentric man named Charles*. A rare and remarkable treat, witty and full of original thoughts ... This quirky book advocates curiosity, thoughtfulness, freedom and courage * Sunday Times *For me this book touched my heart. It made me think about things, and it changed my way of thinking about things. This is a very beautiful story This might just be me, as I tend to have issues with most endings, but I was really unsatisfied with how this story wrapped up. Like, Sophie found her mom, but then it just ends? The rooftoppers storyline felt unresolved, as well as Charles’s. We never find out what happened with her mom, how she is still alive, if she gets to keep Sophie…

Everyone thinks Sophie is an orphan. It is almost impossible that her mother is still alive — but "almost impossible" means "still possible." And you should never ignore a possible. The baby was found wrapped for warmth in the musical score of a Beethoven symphony. It had drifted almost a mile from the ship, and was the last to be rescued. The man who lifted it into the rescue boat was a fellow passenger, and a scholar. It is a scholar’s job to notice things. He noticed that it was a girl, with hair the color of lightning, and the smile of a shy person.

Reading Skills - Rooftoppers - Chapter 2

When they travel to France to explore the possibility that some of Sophie's relatives may be in Paris, Charles disappears from the storyline and is replaced by the rooftoppers, homeless orphans living on the rooftops to avoid detection. Sophie sets out to find her mother. This is also a bit of historical fiction that takes place in England and Paris, which makes it stand out from other middle grade books.

Lila es una niña brasileña, valiente pero constantemente preocupada por su hermanito, Max, un niño de 5 años atolondrado y decidido, pero con un montón de alergias.The beauty of sky, music, and the belief in ‘extraordinary things’ triumph in this whimsical and magical tale” ( Publishers Weekly) about a girl in search of her past who discovers a secret rooftop world in Paris. In Paris, Sophie, ever drawn to heights, pops through a skylight and meets Matteo, a rooftop dwelling orphan who helps her look for the source of mysterious cello music that floats over the city. But how long can they search before the authorities catch them? Rooftoppers reads very much like two separate stories. The London section, while vital to the rest of the book, feels just a bit contrived. The plot point about the National Childcare Agency hot on Charles and Sophie's heels feels like an excuse to go to Paris, reducing Sophie's early childhood to a way station between being rescued and going to Paris. Contrived though it may be, it is still whimsical – Charles' enthusiastic encouragement of Sophie's tree-climbing habit is one example of the book's fanciful style, as is his aphorism to "never ignore a possible." As she grows older, Sophie begins to question whether her mother is alive, and if not, why she hasn't come to find her. Charles always says: "Never ignore a possible," and it is with these words that Sophie persuades him to take her to Paris in search of her mother. Sophie and Charles are also on the run from the authorities, after Charles is declared an unfit guardian for a "young lady". When in Paris, Sophie meets Matteo, a strange and lonely boy who lives on the rooftops to avoid the orphanages. At night, Sophie climbs from her hotel room and joins him to roam the rooftops of Paris on a hunt for her mother.