Rundell, Katherine. 
ROOFTOPPERS
New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2013
IL 3-6, RL 3.6
ISBN 1442490586

A ship sinks in the English Channel under mysterious circumstances and a baby wrapped in a musical score of a Beethoven symphony is found floating in a cello case. Charles Maxim, another survivor, plucks the baby along with her cello case out of the water, names her Sophie, and takes on the responsibility of raising her. Through the years Charles’ methods of child-rearing are considered by some totally unsuitable. What’s wrong, I ask, with eating food off  books, writing on the walls, climbing trees and a girl wearing pants? When Sophie turns twelve the threat of being sent to an orphanage prompts her and Charles to make a hasty departure for Paris in search of her mother.  Once there, Sophie hides out in her hotel room by day but escapes through the skylight to the roof at night.  Under the tutelage of Matteo and other children who refer to themselves as “rooftoppers” she learns to travel on the roofs above the streets of Paris via trees, drainpipes, and even a tightrope. While enjoying her freedom she is always listening, hoping to hear her mother’s music.

Will Sophie find her mother and the mother’s love she so longingly wants? You’ll have to read the spell-binding story of ROOFTOPPERS to find out.    (New Hampshire Great Stone Face Book Award nominee, 2015)