Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell
When the Queen Mary sinks, Charles Maxim finds 1-year-old Sophie floating in a cello case in the English channel and fishes her out. Book fiends, firm friends, the two create a harmonious, unorthodox life together. On her 12th birthday (evading the National Children’s Agency), Sophie and Charles flee to Paris, where Sophie believes her mother may be: "Never ignore a possible," says Charles. The book blooms into a nocturnal rooftop escapade high above the streets of Paris, where a nimble gang of kids live and get around the city by leaping building to building. Sophie joins them, following night after night a trail of notes. A buoyant, witty, Dickensian treat. Grades 4–8.
