Rooftoppers, by Katherine Rundell

Rooftoppers sat on my shelf for about two months before I pulled it down to give it a read.  I had heard the murmurs that it was not to be missed, and a few pages in I was kicking myself for leaving on the shelf for so long.

Sophie is plucked out of the sea where she has been bobbing in a cello case after the ship she was presumably traveling on went down.  Her rescuer is bachelor Charles, who lives on his own and is decidedly a cerebral sort of gentleman.  According to the National Childcare Agency, Charles is ill equipped to care for a one year old girl, but he knows he possesses all the love necessary to do right by the child.  The NCA decides to let Charles care for the girl for the time being, and worker Miss Eliot vows to stop by to make sure that all is well.

Sophie's upbringing is by all means unconventional.  She is schooled at home according to what Charles deems important: Shakespeare, geography and the art of whistling.  Sophie, however, cannot stop thinking about the mother she is sure she lost when the ship went down.  Charles has alway told Sophie to "never ignore a possible", and though her memories are improbable, they are not impossible. Sophie is certain her mother is still alive and playing the cello somewhere, and she has a growing desperation regarding finding her.  Her phantom memories of trousers worn at the knee are no longer enough.  Once the NCA decides that a girl of Sophie's age needs alternate guardianship and Sophie finds a long overlooked clue, she and Charles decide not to ignore the possible and head to Paris.

Paris is where the adventure truly begins.  A world Sophie never could have imagined is right above her on the rooftops, and it seems that Charles' upbringing was the perfect thing to prepare Sophie for the next steps of her life.

Katherine Rundell has written what can only be described as a modern classic.  It has the feel of a story that has been around for an age, one that is timeless, but somehow has not been done before.  The turns of phrase are magical without crossing into the realm of purple.  Rooftoppers begs to be read aloud, and deserves a place of honor on bookshelves everywhere.

Madame Pamplemousse and her Incredible Edibles

Madeleine is a talented little cook, but her gifts are squashed every summer when she goes to work for her restaurateur Uncle Lard while her parents are off jet setting. Uncle Lard's establishment, The Squealing Pig does have some talented people working within, but the problem is with Lard himself. He insists on having specialties of the house that he concocts. Dishes like Pig's Ear Pizza, Kidney Burger with Double Cream, and Crab Ravioli in Warm White Chocolate Sauce! (p. 9)

One day Madeleine is away from the kitchen searching out her Uncle's favourite pate, when she follows a cat and stumbles upon a peculiar shop simply called Edibles. As soon as she steps through the door, Madeline knows that this is a special place. When Madam Pamplemousse (and her cat Camembert) suddenly appears and asks Madeleine what she wants, Madeleine feels a bit frightened but ends up asking for pate. But instead of the mixed innards pate that her Uncle loves, Mme. Pamplemousse hands Madeleine a jar of green pate, labeled "Pate of North Atlantic Sea Serpent with Green Peppercorn Mustard" (p. 21) Even though it is not what she needs, Madeleine takes it back to the restaurant and convinces the Head Chef to simply replace the mixed innards variety with the sea serpent variety for that evening.

The pate, however, has quite an effect on those who consume it, and soon Uncle Lard is thundering into the kitchen and demanding to know where it came from. When the jar falls out of Madeleine's pocket, Uncle Lard has the answer he needs.

What follows is a game of cat and mouse between Uncle Lard, Mme. Pamplemousse, Camembert, and Madeleine. Villainous Uncle Lard is over-the-top bad, and readers will delight in his ineptitude. Sue Hellard's illustrations perfectly compliment the text with Uncle Lard looking as piggish as can be, and there are simple no words for the food critic!

This story is a bit of a flight of fancy, and I think that it is perfectly suited for reading aloud. The sense of humour is sophisticated, and the young foodies in the audience will find themselves imagining just what kinds of dishes, are indeed, possible!

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Hugo lives in the train station in Paris, and is the time-keeper. The only thing is, nobody knows. After his own clockmaker father died in a tragic fire, Hugo's gruff Uncle pulled him out of school, and made Hugo his own time-keeper apprentice. Hugo's uncle starts disappearing for longer and longer stretches of time, until one day, he doesn't come home at all.

What can Hugo do, but continue setting the clocks, and living in Uncle's tiny apartment in the station? He collects Uncle's paycheques so that the Station Inspector is none-the-wiser to the situation.

Everything changes for Hugo when one day, while stealing a wind-up mouse from the toy booth, he is caught. The man who runs the toy booth threatens to call the Station Inspector and takes from Hugo the one thing that he has left from his father - his notebook with the illustrations of the automaton that his father found in the museum attic. The man who runs the toy booth, and Hugo, are connected in a way that neither could fathom. With twists and turns too intricate to describe, Selznik takes readers on a journey about history, cinema, and the meaning of family.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret looks like a daunting book. It is as thick as J.K Rowling's works. The pages of Hugo, however, are filled with Selznick's amazing illustrations that call to mind the work of Chris Van Allsburg. Part of the story is actually told through the illustrations, quickening the pace of reading considerably. A beautiful and enchanting story that is destined to become a classic.