Some books are as soothing as a lullaby. Full of old fashioned charm, wit and characters that will stay with you long after you have met them, Rooftoppers is a book you’ll want to read over and over again, and maybe even dream about!
When a baby girl is found floating in a cello case after a shipwreck in the English Channel her prospects for a good life seem slim, but that is not to be. Charles Maxim, a fellow survivor and scholar who is eccentric, but full of love, finds her. He names her Sophie and takes her to live with him in a rambling old house in London where he proceeds to raise her to be as awkward as he is. She eats food off of books and recites Shakespeare daily, but never loses hope that her mother is still alive. This is because Charles always tells her “never ignore life’s possibilities.”
When Sophie turns twelve the Child Welfare Society finds that Charles is no longer suitable to raise a young lady and sets a date that she must go into an orphanage. Enraged Sophie tries to destroy the cello case that once saved her life and instead finds clue to its owner. Once again Charles tells her to not ignore life’s possibilities and they head to Paris to track down the owner of the cello and hopefully her mother. Although they find nothing to suggest her mother survived the shipwreck, they do not lose hope. Sophie then makes friends with a boy who is a rooftopper. He is an orphan who lives on the Paris roofs. He is one of many orphans who have bonded together to make a family of sorts, though they live free from the conventions of the ordinary world. Sophie has a whirlwind adventure upon the roofs in Paris and discovers real magic when she realizes how important pursuing “life’s possibilities” is. When she finds another clue that may lead her to her mother, Charles and her new friends will help her find the answers she has been looking for.
Rooftoppers reminds readers that there are all sorts of magic including that what comes with friendship, family and the courage to never give up. It is a must read.
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