Cloudette

Cloudette by Tom Lichtenheld
2011

     Cloudette is a very small cloud, which has its advantages:  everyone calls her cute little names (shortcake, small-fry, pipsqueak!), she has little friends (squirrels, kites and birds), she can always squeeze in and get a good spot to watch the fireworks, she can easily hide, and she can even use the crescent moon as her little cradle.  But sometimes she wishes she were bigger so she could do big things, like make gardens grow, a "brook babble," a "waterfall fall," and give kids a day off from school with a nice snow storm.  Cloudette tried to get jobs around town (helping firemen, watering plants at the garden center, helping at the carwash) but nobody seemed to need her help. "Cloudette was feeling blue." Then, one day, during a massive thunderstorm, Cloudette was blown away from her neighborhood and found herself in a mountainous area.  She started making new friends and came across a little frog sitting on a dried up pond.  This gave Cloudette an idea: she "held her breath until she started to puff up all over". She kept going and going until she "shook her behind" and "did what she'd wanted to do for ages." "She let it pour."  Cloudette created the most perfect pond, and was exhausted, but happy.
     I absolutely LOVE Cloudette.  Everything about Cloudette is perfect.  The story is tender, funny, and entertaining.  I really enjoyed the dialogue bubbles included in the illustrations. The illustrations themselves are beautiful and Cloudette, in particular, is endearing.  My favorite part is when Cloudette finally makes it rain and the page spread takes both pages and makes you turn the book ninety degrees to see Cloudette happily raining over the frog. A book to read multiple times and to add to my favorite's shelf.