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Reviewed by:
  • Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell
  • Jeannette Hulick
Rundell, Katherine Rooftoppers; illus. by Terry Fan. Simon, 2013 [288p] ISBN 978-1-4424-9058-1 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 5-7

Baby Sophie is found floating in a cello case after the passenger ship she was on sinks in the English Channel. She’s adopted and raised by Charles, a fellow survivor, but when she is twelve, the authorities determine that as a single man Charles is not a fit parent for the young girl. Sophie and Charles flee to Paris, where they plan to seek Sophie’s mother; official channels for the search prove hopeless, but then Sophie meets Matteo, a “rooftopper,” one of several homeless children in Paris [End Page 177] who make their abode on top of the city’s buildings. With Matteo’s help, Sophie begins a nighttime campaign of listening from rooftops in hopes of hearing her mother’s cello, as well as conducting a search of the police’s top-floor archives to find more information about the sunken ship and its survivors. There’s certainly appeal and humor in the way Charles and Sophie turn some of the more stuffy Victorian traditions on their ear, but their behavior and dialogue occasionally tip towards the anachronistic. The hard-knock world of the rooftoppers is intriguing in both its grit and detail, and Matteo is an especially strong character as he refuses to cut Sophie any slack or to compromise his own rules for living. Unfortunately, the highly implausible happy ending, reuniting Sophie and her mom but giving no explanation of what will happen to Charles’ role in Sophie’s life, is abrupt and unsatisfying. Most readers, however, will still rejoice that Sophie has found what she has sought, so hand this to kids who like their historical fiction with a creative edge.

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