Rooftoppers

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She knows how to read, and how to draw. She knows the difference between a tortoise and a turtle. She knows one tree from another, and how to climb them. Only this morning she was telling me what is the collective noun for toads." Rundell's play Life According to Saki, with David Paisley in the title role, [19] won the 2016 Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award [20] and opened Off-Broadway in February 2017. [14] Costa Book Awards 2017" (PDF). Costa Book Awards. January 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 January 2018 . Retrieved 3 January 2018. Miss Eliot did not approve of Charles, nor of Sophie. She disliked Charles’s carelessness with money, and his lateness at dinner. Mother: Great story with spoonfuls of creamy dream-like prose. Loved most young Sophie and her adventures with the rag-tag friends who dwell on rooftops and trees, especially Matteo and the almost more-than-friendship introduced by Rundell...reminiscent of Secret Garden with maybe a dash of Heathcliff in hardscrabble Matteo, the lone wolf kid all haunted, passionate, and grim. (Jump, Sophie, jump. You might die, but maybe you won't. And here, here are my scars from the knife and no, I don't talk about it, like ever, but it messed me up. And yes, give me your ankles to hold and I'll dangle you over the edges of reason and rooftops.)

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. 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 are thousands and thousands of things we have not believed that turned out to be true. [...] One should not ingore the smallest glimmer of possiblity."

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. It's about a spunky, intelligent girl called Sophie, who was found floating in a cello case in the English channel as a baby. The man who found her - Charles - decides immediately to do the only natural thing - raise and love this baby girl as if she was his own.A venture onto the hotel rooftop opens Sophie’s world when she discovers a community of orphan children called Rooftoppers. They live in shadows and move at night, and some of them are highly dangerous. As she begins to spend more time on the rooftops, Sophie learns about bravery and love. Will the rooftoppers be the key to Sophie’s mother-hunt? The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2022". The Baillie Gifford Prize . Retrieved 17 November 2022. 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. I enjoyed it tremendously ... The next time I go to Paris I will be looking up at the rooftops' - Jacqueline Wilson I said it would take quite a bit to make me want to scramble around on Parisian rooftops, but actually, all it’s taken is reading Rooftoppers.

I meant, she knows the things which are important. Not all of them, of course; she is still a child. But many." a b "2015 Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards for Excellence in Children's Literature". www.hbook.com. The Horn Book. 27 May 2015 . Retrieved 22 January 2017. CELEBRATING 10 HIGH-FLYING YEARS OF THE MULTI-AWARD-WINNING MODERN CLASSIC, FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE EXPLORER _______________ 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. just a wonderful, magical, extraordinary book. the kind of classic-feeling book you can put in the hands of a little girl and feel confident that with it, she will grow into a wonderful, magical, extraordinary creature herself. it might work on boys, too, who knows? but right now i am speaking to the fathers i know with young daughters who are looking for that book that will leave an impression on them in a literary role-model kind of way: a strong and smart and brave little girl raised by an eccentric man who may not have taught her much about how to be conventional, but who has shared a love of language and adventure, and has raised her to be fierce and loyal and courageous and independent.When I was reading it and I was whisked away to Ms Rundell’s dreamlike Paris where the streets are still cobbled and the streetlights are being lit by hand, I couldn’t help but think of the film The Illusionist. Except Rooftoppers had a much happier and incredibly delightful ending. Sophie was the most charming, adorable, and spirited twelve-year-old and Charles was her eccentric and loving guardian who had an extremely odd but wonderful way of taking care of her. He filled her mind with the knowledge of words since she was young, let her wear pants, and encouraged her to play her cello on the rooftops.

I do, I'm afraid, understand books far more readily than I understand people. Books are so easy to get along with. The plot follows the two as they flee the authorities to France to search for Sophie's lost mother. Sophie discovers a secret world on the roofs of Paris where dirty, poor, clever "rooftopper" children run free from the watchful eyes on the streets. 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.Sophie and Charles did not live neatly, but neatness, Sophie thought, was not necessary for happiness.” 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. At this point the story and the characters became too farfetched. For some reason the story endlessly refers to spitting, so many times it became ridiculous, for all sorts of reasons, on yourself and friends, the story was also constantly referring other bodily fluids, snot, blood, I think this was in attempt to make it a gritty read but it felt forced and needless. As with the other book I have read by this author, peeing and going to the toilet was constantly mentioned, I have no idea why, it's quite a natural thing to do but added nothing to the storyline. Presenter: Mary Beard; Producer: Adele Armstrong (6 July 2016). "You May Now Turn Over Your Papers". Seriously…. BBC. BBC Radio 4 . Retrieved 22 January 2017.