CLOUD BABIES

An imaginative girl faces a long hospital stay.

When Erin looks to the sky, she sees “cloud babies”: such quirky critters as “a dragon who had run out of puff” or “a fox who was late for school.” One day, Erin feels sick and goes to the children’s hospital, a world of buzzing beds, beeping machines, welcoming staff, and new friends. There, spotting cloud babies provides comfort and a way for her and Dad to bond even when they’re apart. But back at school after her long stay, Erin feels different. She’s shorter than her classmates, and when she tells the class about cloud babies, her teacher turns them into a science lesson, stripping them of their joy. On follow-up “hospital days,” kids of all ages play together, but Erin and her classmates are all 6—too old for cloud babies, she decides, resolving to keep her “two worlds” of hospital and school separate. But she feels like she’s “floating somewhere in between” both. Then, Mom gets an idea….Colfer’s clear, gentle text will resonate with kids experiencing chronic illness and their parents alike as he explores the complexity of feeling alternately accepted by and different from peers. Emphasizing the interplay of imagination and reality, Judge’s bright illustrations mingle expressive cartoon figures and realistic backgrounds. Erin and her parents have pale skin; other characters are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A perceptive embrace of imagination and empathy.