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*. 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] 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. They told me that she was dead, and I didn’t believe them. Why did she believe it? Why didn’t she keep looking?"

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] Rundell’s writing is a thing of beauty, smooth and elegant, easy and utterly charming. She created a wonderful and magical story, full of love and unconventional beauty. It is almost impossible to describe why this book feels so much like a classic, but it does. Books like Rooftoppers are extremely rare and I’m eager to share it with the people I love. 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 🥰)Think of night-time with a speaking voice. Or think how moonlight might talk, or think of ink, if ink had vocal chords.” The prose may seem at times a little condescending toward kids and preachy, but I must point out again that its intended audience is 10 years old kids, and not fifty-somethings. Adjectives like 'bouncy' , 'twirling', 'skipping'. 'dancing' and 'singing' are a good indicator for a happy story, yet the author is skillful enough to introduce in the text powerful critical comments about the way we treat orphans and the way we stifle imagination in young children. There were a few missteps that pulled me out of the story several times, but they all can be dismissed as grown-up foibles, so I decided to put them in spoilers, and not to detract from the overall positive impression this short story left. CELEBRATING 10 HIGH-FLYING YEARS OF THE MULTI-AWARD-WINNING MODERN CLASSIC, FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE EXPLORER The opening chapters remind me strongly of "The Storied Life of A J Fikry", but later developments turn original and distinctive, proof that Katherine Rundell is not simply writing fanfic about a bookish bachelor who tries to raise a young girl on his own, opposed by social services and keen on passing on his love for the written word. We are so much the more fortunate, Charles and Sophie are as genuinely endearing as Scout and her father Atticus, possibly the only other father-daughter duo that can match Rundell's pair.

And the setting? Let’s just say I want to go to Paris again…. now please. I adore Paris and it will always have a special place in my heart so it was so refreshing to read a story set there that wasn’t immediately bogged down by all the clichés that seem to latch themselves onto it. It was lovely to read about the city from a different perspective… one slightly higher than the others, shall we say? This isn’t part of the review but !!!! oh Charles, let’s go on adventures! You’re magnificent and I adore your mind. Her books have won many awards, including the Costa Children’s Book Award, the Blue Peter Book Award, and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. On the morning of its first birthday, a baby was found floating in a cello case in the middle of the English Channel. the more words in a house the better, Miss Eliot" (Charles to the busybody government child welfare agent, pg. 19)Embrace possibility and let Sophie’s music take you to the rooftops of Paris. It is about hope and belief, about following your inner voice, listening to your senses and letting the music play on, play on, play on. All wrapped up in luscious, chocolaty prose. 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. The story ends abruptly with Sophie finding her mother, there was no mention of what would happen to Charles or the rooftoppers now. Katherine Rundell (born 1987) is an English author and academic. She is the author of Rooftoppers, which in 2015 won both the overall Waterstones Children's Book Prize [1] and the Blue Peter Book Award for Best Story, [2] and was short-listed for the Carnegie Medal. [3] She is a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford [4] and has appeared as an expert guest on BBC Radio 4 programmes including Start the Week, [5] Poetry Please, [6] Seriously.... [7] and Private Passions. [8]

a b "Katherine Rundell wins Waterstones Children's Book Prize". BBC News Online. BBC. 3 April 2014 . Retrieved 22 January 2017. 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. Rooftoppers. Illustrated by Terry Fan. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. 24 September 2013. ISBN 978-1442490581. {{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: others ( link) 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.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. A very cute, middle grade read. It kinda reminded me of "The Thief Lord" by Cornelia Fluke since both books have a very similar feel. I'd say I liked "The Thief Lord" a little more, but I enjoyed both. Moshenska, Joe (29 March 2022). "The Poet and the Whale". Literary Review . Retrieved 28 February 2023.