Rooftoppers

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He tells her that “almost impossible means still possible” and that you should “never ignore a possible”. Everyone tells Sophie that she was orphaned in a shipwreck – found floating in a cello case on the English Channel on her first birthday. I am not sure what the intended timeline of the story is, but I would like to point out that my favorite virtuoso on the instrument is Jacqueline du Pre. Mostly, though, it made me think of A Little Princess, with a very different sense of social justice: no romanticizing of the diamond mines into something out of The Arabian Nights; no meek and grateful poor children, and no patient suffering.

when women were not cellists and were not supposed to wear trousers, but when it also feels perfectly right for a delightful man like Charles to rescue a baby, take her home and raise her, without bothering either of them with stupid things like school. Her characterization is excellent and her voice laced with humor in a way that can keep the attention of smaller kids. Charles unstuck the skylight in the attic, and on the days on which it did not rain, Sophie climbed onto the roof and played her cello, up amongst the leaf mold and the pigeons. Secured in an attic to evade the French authorities, Sophie escapes through the skylight and meets Matteo and his network of rooftoppers – homeless urchins who tightrope walk above the busy streets below, dining on pigeons and snails alongside the gargoyles and bell tower of Notre Dame. As with the majority of books I have read that have a musical element it is clear the author isn't familiar with what she is writing about but hasn't checked her facts.But Katherine Rundell is so particular with her detail, that I now think it is a deliberate transposition—like the reference to the Queen Mary, which didn't sink—to preserve an element of fantasy within the appearance of normality (or vice-versa). Parents are not usually the focus of books for children – they’re not the ones having the adventures, after all! Raised in a quirky home filled with music, words and love (though questionable diet), Sophie grows into a free-spirited tomboy with a taste for Shakespeare and the unshakeable belief that anything is possible.

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. The hateful and conservative child welfare hounds; the crusty-but-kind, street-wise orphan boy; the loving, nontraditional, scholar dad. Readers who enjoyed the Lemony Snicket books, Ellen Potter's The Kneebone Boy, Cornelia Funke's The Thief Lord, and Sally Gardner's I, Coriander will want to put Rooftoppers on their "Must Read" list.It kinda reminded me of "The Thief Lord" by Cornelia Fluke since both books have a very similar feel.