Be careful with these characters, and by that I mean: take care of them, for they are fragile, sad souls in need of understanding and in need, moreover, of someone--anyone--to see through their facades and see them for who they really are. Witness wrenching tragedies and surprising acts of bravery in six stories from the darkest days of the virus. A brat who wants to burn her house down and a concierge who has done nothing with her life except isolate herself are not special, no matter how many books they've read.

An open door introduces a break in the room, a sort of provincial interference, destroying the unity of space.Whilst children enjoy this story, it's length and being largely text-based with fewer illustrations means I would recommend it for use with early Key Stage 2 children.

There are so many ways to think about that passage, and one of the good things about this book is that it doesn't dumb down; each reader can draw their own conclusions, and they may not be constant anyway. The premise is original enough that I was hoping the book would be a real find: within the same super high end Parisian apartment building live 2 misfits: the 54 year old concierge who reads Kant and Tolstoi in secret and a 12 year old girl with abnormally high IQ and suicidal tendencies. If you find that a hedgehog has a very heavy flea infestation it may indicate that there is an underlying problem. Paloma and Renée hide both their true talents and their finest qualities from a world they suspect cannot or will not appreciate them. Her criticisms of the family's lack of sanity clearly need to be taken with a pinch of salt, given that she's planning to celebrate her thirteenth birthday by killing herself and burning down the apartment.One is a dowdy concierge in an upscale Paris apartment and the other is an unusual 12-year-old girl living there with her well-to-do family. Who reconcile their heads with their hearts, and find a way of being in the world that is bearable for them.