Heartwarming, heartbreaking. A little of both, but with a good ending. This is a fun middle grade adventure book. If I were still a teacher, we would absolutely be reading this one in the classroom!

This is a great adventure story about two Tibetan children trying to escape from occupied Tibet and make their way across the Himalayas into India to ask the Dalai Lama (in exile) for his help. The author has spent many years living in and around the Himalayas, this adds to the authenticity of the story. A well-written and enjoyable book. I would definitely read more by this author.

I enjoyed this look brief and succinct look at Tibet, the invasion by China, and the political unrest its people have experienced.
I do question how much children who know nothing about Tibet and the subjection of the Tibetans by China will understand. Although this book is a marvellous way to begin the conversation.

An Algonquin Young Readers ARC via NetGalley

This is a good story. There's constant movement, and it's easy to visualize the environments. The writing is smooth and enjoyable to read, but for a story so full of action, it's rather quiet. It lacks an emotional connection to the characters and the hardship they must endure on their journey. I don't think this will be a problem for middle grade readers, though. Fans of Magic Tree House and I Survived books will probably eat this up. When children are ready to delve into serious topics, they can find some here.

I know very little about Tibet. We don't learn much in school, not about the culture nor about the invasion. This book gives us a brief glance into indigenous culture, but that's all. We see the restrictions on behavior, speech, religion. We get events, not motivations or historical context. I could see using this as part of an educational unit but I'm not certain it stands well on it's own.

In my continual quest to find global books, I was excited to receive an ARC of this middle grade novel set in Tibet in the time after the Dalai Lama had escaped to India. While this is an exciting story that will appeal to young readers who like adventure, I was a bit disappointed. Too often it felt like Tash was ignorant of her own culture so that the author could tell modern American children about this foreign place. I also felt like there was an uneven balance between the harsh reality of Tash seeing the young man who set himself on fire and her naivete about the journey to find the Dalai Lama. Still recommended as a good adventure story, not as much as a window into another culture.

The degree of intrigue in the title of Jess Butterworth’s novel, Running on the Roof of the World, is no match for the tale she spins. Set in Tibet where Tash must follow rules of the Chinese soldiers, problems come out into the open when a man publicly sets himself on fire to protest the occupation.

Tash’s family has known peace by hiding their Buddhist religion and their trust in its leader, the Dalai Lama. The crackdown that follows brings soldiers to arrest her parents who have been secretly part of the underground. They get her out with secret papers to deliver and gets her neighbor to cut her hair so she can disguise herself as a boy. Her best friend Sam and two yaks join her for the trip across the roof of the world to find help from the Dalai Lama where he rules in exile from India.

With the current emphasis in the children’s book world of being true to cultural representations, I had to wonder how true the setting was so I looked Jess up. My first surprise was that she is female since I had been fooled by the name and the voice of the novel. Since the novel rings so true, I was not shocked to learn that her father’s family has lived in India for seven generations, and that she spent much of her childhood there. They lived in an exiled Tibetan community where her father was a trek leader.

This is labelled for middle school, but as I have said before, there is no reason to let them have all the fun. One word of warning, if you are looking for a book to help you doze off at night, you will be sorely disappointed. There is not one chapter that says, close the book and have a good night’s sleep.

3.5 stars

After Tash's parents are arrested by the Wujing police, Tash and Sam flee across the Himalayas to India pursued by Chinese soldiers, informer nomads, and winter. Can they reach the Dalai Lama in time to save her parents?

In the beginning, while Tash establishes her surroundings and home, she describes life under Chinese occupation. How people disappear in the middle of the night. How you never attract the attention of a soldier or policeman. That anyone can be arrested by saying "Dalai Lama," singing in Tibetan or wearing/possessing traditional clothing or a picture of the Dalai Lama. How the land and people had once been wild and free, but the Chinese army had come and rounded up the people and then stripped the land of its resources, polluting the environment and ruining animal habitats.

To combat the Chinese, her father is part of the resistance and speaks the truth through newsletters, although it's never made clear how/if his newsletters ever escape Tibet (there's a lot of mention that they never hear anything from outside Tibet, but then how do the nomads travel so freely?). In the end, I wanted more insight into the systematic erasure of Tibetan culture than what was ultimately presented. (view spoiler)(view spoiler)

There's a moment that happens right at the beginning, where a man sets himself on fire to protest the Chinese occupation, that shocks Tash and is the trigger for the book's events. She can't understand why someone would do it, and has a lot of flashbacks to the scene throughout the book (understandable since it was a very traumatic event).

While I put this book down as historical fiction, I think it takes place sometime in the 2000s, as there are satellite phones and a brief mention that the Dalai Lama hasn't been in Tibet in 50 years, and the author mentions that there have been 140 self-immolations in Tibet since 2009.

I really enjoyed this book about two kids crossing the Himalayas from Tibet into India. I don't think I've ever read a MG or YA book set in Tibet and featuring Tibetan protagonists. My main wish is that there was a longer author's note at the end of the book that put the Chinese occupation into historical and current context (she mentions mostly that she grew up around Tibet and there have been a lot of self-immolations since 2009, but that's about it) that young readers could continue to tie the book to what had happened and is happening in Tibet.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

This is an excellent story about a girl named Tashi who lives with her parents in Tibet. One day, there is an act of social protest which is followed by a military crackdown. Tashi's parents decide they must flee, but the military gets there first. This story follows a harrowing path that is very exciting to read and shows kids what it must be like to have to flee a home that you love to find a new place because the home you love is no longer safe. This one is going to be great for studies on social issues, but the kids are really going to like it because it's such an exciting and well written story.

Tash burns to see her people freed from the oppressive soldiers that enforce all the restrictive rules in Tibet and prevent them from singing traditional songs or even saying the name of the Dalai Lama. Tash’s parents work for the resistance. After a man sets himself on fire in the town square, the soldiers start cracking down on everyone they even remotely suspect of being involved in the resistance and throwing them in jail. Tash’s parents know they are next. As the soldiers come down their street, they sneak her out the back window and give her a backpack containing something very important the soldiers must not find. After their arrest, Tash starts to make her way to the one person she thinks can help, the Dalai Lama. Her best friend Sam joins her, and an old man in the village lets them borrow his yaks Eve and Bones. The two children must sneak out of the village, evade the soldiers and find their way to India through the Himalayan passes to see if they can pass on whatever message the backpack contains and get help for their village.


I think it is pretty safe to say this may be the only middle grade book set in Tibet and featuring Tibetan main characters out there, at least in English. The basic plot line is one that could be made into an intense suspense movie, but Butterworth keeps things toned down for the middle grade crowd. There is excitement, and there’s a lot of time spent surviving the mountain trails of Tibet while evading soldiers, but it never feels like your fingers are in danger of having all of their nails chewed down, maybe a couple, but not all. I am wondering how the average middle grader will do in visualizing the things described. I kinda wish there were illustrations to help readers with no exposure to Tibet or Asia in general, but there’s always Google for the truly curious. (Or you could have a nonfiction book about Tibet with photos on hand too.) I’m glad Butterworth wrote this to bring the human rights issues of Tibet into the awareness of modern middle grade readers. Further facts on Tibet are included in the back of the book. I’m also happy to have another survival story to offer readers. It feels like that genre hasn’t had a lot of page time since the 80s and 90s, but it is gaining a little more attention of late. Recommended to readers who like adventure and survival stories, as well as readers who want to learn more about real issues in the world through their fiction, or travel to faraway lands from their favorite reading spot. Since Tibet is not all that far away from Thailand, I definitely need to add a copy of this to our school’s library.

Notes on content: No language issues. No sexual content. The kids see the man light himself on fair in the square and it comes back to Tash’s mind a lot. One person is shot, but not fatally. Threats of mountain terrain and winter weather danger. One animal dies from causes that are left to the reader’s interpretation, and Tibetan death customs are then explored.

I received an ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Whew- the story grabbed right from the beginning. I remember seeing photos in news magazines of monks setting themselves on fire during the Viet Nam War. I was in 6th, maybe 7th grade and it really grabbed my attention. So much so the opening of this book kind of made me catch my breath when I read the scene. Bit of a surprise. Kind of caught of guard to encounter a self-immolation in a children's book. As I am always looking for diverse books for the collection, this one takes place in Nepal and has all of it's political issues in it, so I'm thinking 7th grade up and probably only appealing to students who are interested in learning about the wider world. Might make a good read for a history, or social studies class. Tash and her friend friend Sam get caught up in the politics after her parents are taken away. They need to cross the Himalayas in order to get to India to get help in finding Tash's parents. Quite a hair raising adventure. Tash and Sam are quite a contrast to their American counterparts. I can't imagine many of our children accomplishing what they accomplish in the story. Could lead to some interesting discussions of how many of the world's children really aren't children very long, but far more responsible at far younger ages. Quick, easy read in a sense. It's really hard to put down once started.

E ARC from Netgalley



When Tash and her friend Sam witness a man self-immolating himself in the market place in their small Tibetan town, they are scared for many reasons. The police frown on any activity they do not approve, and punish the transgressors heavily. Sam's father is so bludgeoned by his surroundings that he doesn't care all that much about taking care of Sam, but Tash's parents are both supportive of her... and resistant to the Chinese government. Her father writes what the government tells him in the local newspaper, but also distributes anti-government leaflets. When the police come knocking on their door, they give Tash some papers and a few supplies and tell her to hide and meet them later. They never come. Tash and Sam talk, and decide to attempt to travel to India and ask the Dalai Lama for help. They borrow two yaks from a neighbor and set off across the cold and treacherous landscape to India. It's not easy, and they don't trust anyone they meet. When they get to India, will they even be able to get the help they need?
Strengths: If I ever have to travel in the Himalayas, I am definitely making sure I have access to a yak! This is what I learned from this book. That, and it's essential to carry dried yak dung with me to make a fire. I love this sort of detail. I have been looking for stories set in this area of the world, especially Nepal and Bhutan since I have students who were born in those countries, but I'll take what I can get. This was a fantastic survival adventure story with vivid details about traveling through the mountains. The brilliant part of the book was how it addressed the political climate in Tibet so that younger readers can understand it, and they can see how it affects someone who is their age.
Weaknesses: Because this started with the author's note about being raised in the Himalayas, and the characters had vaguely Western names, I thought at first that they were Westerners living in Tibet and was momentarily confused. It didn't take long to be set straight, and this could just be my reaction. I wish there had been a few more notes about history related to this, just because some readers will not quite understand how the real situation is.
What I really think: Definitely looking forward to sharing this with my readers next year. (I've spent all of the money I had for books-- next order will be in August.)

Tash is a Buddhist in Tibet, which is dangerous as Tibet is occupied by the Chinese and they have forbidden worshiping as Buddhists. Tash and her family practice their faith in secret and outwardly behave in such a way that the Chinese soldiers won't give them a second glance. But Tash is aware of the strife as she watches a man set himself on fire in protest to the Chinese rule. Tash's father runs the local newspaper and when he doesn't report on the man who set himself on fire, she asks questions about why it wasn't newsworthy and she learns that her father publishes what the Chinese tell him to publish. Soon after this, Chinese soldiers storm the house and while Tash hides, her parents are both taken in to custody. Tash narrowly escapes, with a note from her father which she intends to deliver to the Dalai Lama.

Tash and her friend Sam brave the elements and the soldiers looking for the duo as they cross the mountains trying to get into India and to the Dalai Lama.

I wish books like this had been more accessible when I was a young reader.

Author Jess Butterworth delivers a political adventure story that engages, educates, and entertains. Every moment of the Tibetan life under the Chinese rule is totally believable and shows our young readers what an occupied country might feel like to the youngster.

Tash is a little bit larger than life as she pushes against unbelievable odds, but that is precisely what you want in such an adventure story - a young protagonist pushing her/himself to the limit and a little beyond, to show that it sometimes takes an awful lot to really get what you are working for. To escape the soldiers with guns repeatedly also requires a little bit of luck, which Tash definitely possesses.

While mostly an adventure story of survival and the fight for freedom of an entire country, there is also some mystery here as Tash attempts to learn who her father really is and what the cryptic message she is delivering really means.

Looking for a good book? Running on the Roof of the World by Jess Butterworth is an all-around well-told story that really should capture a young reader's interest and that reader will likely learn a thing or two along the way.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this book. The oppression of the people of Tibet is a complex subject, but the author conveyed it simply by following two children in their struggle rather than filling the pages with facts and dry history. The relationships between Tash and her parents, Sam and the yak, Eve, are sweet and believable and make the reader identify with the characters, even when their circumstances are foreign. One startling image was carried through the book as a symbol of fear and a constant reminder of the serious nature of their quest. It is not overly graphic, but younger children may be disturbed by the image. A great book for discussion and includes a few facts about Tibet for those wanting to know more.

A Vivid Escape/Adventure Introducing Young Readers to Tibet

This book opens in a village in Tibet that's tightly controlled and occupied by Chinese forces. We meet our two young heroes, (Tash and her friend Sam), learn about the Tibetan resistance, and experience what life is like for Tibetans who are basically prisoners in their own homes. When Tash's parents are seized and disappear, and the village is locked down, Tash and Sam decide to make their way out of Tibet and into India to ask the Dalai Lama for help.

The balance of the book follows the hardships and challenges of their brave and risky trek to freedom in India. Soldiers, untrusty nomads, cold, hunger, snow, and high altitude passes frustrate and block their way. Unexpected allies and members of the Tibetan resistance offer hope and support. The excitement, adventure, and danger level remains high as they make their way.

The early on portrayal of Tibetan life, culture, religion and daily family life opens this country to the young reader's mind. The drama of occupation and escape sets the tone for our heroes' risky undertaking. The actual trek to India is gripping and told with compelling narrative drive and yet also with economy. Quiet moments of rest and doubt allow the reader to identify with and sympathize with Tash and Sam's plight. In addition to adventurers they are also, after all, confused and frightened kids.There are lots of contrivances and coincidences that keep the tale moving to a happy resolution but I didn't find that that detracted from the book's appeal.

The pace here is fast and crisp. The plot is straightforward. Background is offered in broad brushstrokes. This is, after all, a hero adventure for young readers, and a nice balance is set between danger, drama, and fear on the one hand, and the reader's sensibilities, (and, possibly, attention span), on the other. That said, the author doesn't pull her punches about the misery and real danger of the Chinese occupation.

My bottom line was that I was happy to see this book, and happy to find a gripping read that wasn't just fantasy or magical adventure. This is an eye-opener for an interested and ambitious young reader.

(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

Tash's community in Tibet is occupied by Chinese soldiers. When the soldier's come for Tash's family, Tash grabs her best friend Sam and flees across the mountains. Blizzards, nomads, hunger, and thirst are only a few obstacles they face.

I thought this was a great book for pre-teens. It is an adventure story that also shares a different culture and perspective. Overall, well worth picking up.

I loved this book, it was exciting to read and will interest readers of all ages.

Will be buying this book for our library. A good story to introduce our kids to this part of the world. A simple intro to the politics of the area.

Running on the Roof of the World is an exciting, adventurous, fast-paced story about two children and the journey they take through the Himalayas to escape their new native Tibet.

I’m a Year 6 teacher and this would be a fantastic class novel and would work well for many topics. Definitely a book to buy for the classroom.

This book was solid, but not amazing. The story of two kids who flee Chinese-occupied Tibet through the Himalayas to India, <i>Running on the Roof of the World</i> was an interesting and easy read. Sometimes the characters' voices sounded strangely American, vibing weirdly with the Tibetan setting. <br>
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To be really good, I would have wanted more detail, and for there to be a whole lot less coincidence involved in the journey. How everything worked out so they just happened to 1) stumble upon the very resistance members the secret message was supposed to go to, 2) encounter the same soldier in the mountains that arrested Tash's parents in the village, 3) have a secret message that was concerned with freeing prisoners JUST BEFORE Tash's parents were arrested, and 4) have Tash's parents walk into the exiled community a month after she arrived there all just combined to seem a little unlikely and contrived.