3.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing via Netgalley for my copy of this book!

The Secret of Clouds is an ode to all the great teachers out there, and a reminder of why education is so valuable and important. I wanted to be a teacher for a long time, and even though I am not one now, this book lit that fire back in me and I could feel the passion anew.

Maggie is a dedicated sixth grade English teacher who lives her life for her students. When a new student, Yuri, is too ill to be in class, Maggie agrees to tutor him in his home a few days a week. At first, Maggie struggles to form a bond with Yuri and worries she is failing him, but she quickly forms a connection with him when she discovers his love of baseball, and realizes he is teaching her more than she is teaching him. Yuri's parents, Katya and Sasha, emigrated to the United States from Kiev after a tragedy caused Yuri to fall ill. The novel goes back and forth between Maggie's perspective and Katya and Sasha's.

I loved going back to school in this novel. Maggie's passion for teaching and her willingness to go to any lengths for her students was so inspiring. This book made me want to get up and live life with an open heart, not taking anything for granted. I was reminded of the beauty of the world, and how great things can happen if we open our hearts to them.

Despite the lessons I learned, and Richman's passionate writing, for whatever reason, I still wasn't able to fully connect with the story. Some of the most devastating moments in the novel simply did not move me the way I would have expected them to. This left me wanting more and feeling slightly less than satisfied. I really enjoyed this novel, it just didn't stick with me the way I expected it to. If you are a teacher or hoping to be one though, you need to read this book. It will move you to great lengths, and remind you how important your work is.

The Secret of Clouds
By Alyson Richman

This is a heartbreaking, moving and endearing story.
Set in fall of 1999, Maggie Topper, a second-year sixth-grade language arts teacher, takes on an extra duty teaching assignment for Yuri, a young boy born with a rare health condition that isolates him from other children. Maggie is a passionate dedicated teacher but has the challenge to bring Yuri out of his shell but the factor that binds them together is baseball. Yuri’s parents are immigrants from Kiev and immigrate to the USA after the Chernobyl incident. Yuri and Maggie develop a relationship that affects them both. They learn from one another.
This was an unforgettable read.

This was a sweet story about a teacher and her student. It handled some very serious subjects with seriousness and care. For the teachers out there, the ones who do it all- you will definitely relate!

Maggie Topper has moved from New York City to eastern Long Island where she will be teaching English at a middle school. This is a major career change and her first time working at a school. Her move to rural life was also motivated by her desire to live with her long-time boyfriend.

One of her early assignments is to tutor a child who is too ill to attend classes. Yuri Krasny has a congenital heart condition which keeps him home and isolated. He would love to play baseball and engage with other children but his body is too frail for a normal life. Over time Maggie and Yuri form a bond which impacts Maggie beyond the classroom.

The Secret Of Clouds is a story about family, love, and friendship. Alison Richman is a wonderful storyteller whose books always depict rich character development. This book demonstrates the author's unique talents in interlacing multiple time periods.

An absolutely stunning novel with characters we cheered for. Heartfelt, raw, and absorbing. We can’t wait to share this book with bookish friends.

A teacher's love for her student is masterfully told in this sweet and emotional read, The Secret of Clouds.

The book is set mainly in 1999 as the Y2K madness was happening, but for a short while the story goes back to the mid-80s in Kiev as Richman tells the story of Yuri's parents and how they came to move to the US after the disaster at Chernobyl.

In the present storyline, we follow Maggie, who has left her corporate job to follow her dream of becoming a teacher. She is now teaching sixth grade and is asked to help tutor Yuri, who is unable to attend school due to his heart defect. It's slow going at first as Maggie tries to drag Yuri out of his shell, but they soon bond over baseball. I absolutely loved the Mets references! I married a New Yorker so I'm a Mets fan by marriage and our boys love them too. In fact, my 6-year-old wore his Mets hat to school today for "hat day".

The Secret of Clouds is a fantastic tribute to teachers and shows how a child can affect our lives just as much as we affect theirs.

I've been reading quite a few dark and gritty reads lately so this was a welcome change. It was an easy read and I devoured it in a few sittings. This was my first read by Richman (*gasp*) but it won't be my last!

"And yet, I knew that so many languages of love existed. Some forms, however, were more obvious than others. But if you took a step back sometimes, you could find it in the most unlikely places. And the discovery of it was often the greatest reward."

Alyson Richman has an easy writing style that keeps the reader engaged with the story. This is a fast read about a tutor and her student and the lessons learned and taught. They both have a lot to share about life with each other by their shared experiences. #NetGalley #The Secret of Clouds

🗣 Calling All Teachers! 🗣This post is for you. You are loved. You are appreciated. You are strong and brave beyond all measure. As a teacher myself, this book tugged on ALL the heart strings! A story about a teacher willing to go the extra mile for a student with a chronic health condition. A story about how our students impact us more than we could ever imagine. A story of family, love, and dedication. As a child with chronic illness, I could also relate to the impact my teachers had on me, something that really reflected throughout the pages of this book. This one hit a homerun! I only wish it was a little more detailed in the emotions, something that I realize is hard to do when you're covering so much time in just one book.

Have you ever read one of those books that as soon as you finished it you thought “this is the kind of book that can change lives?” This for sure is one of those types of books. I can see this book easily reaching and impacting so many people.

Maggie is a 6th grade English teacher. During her second year of teaching she is asked to home tutor a 6th grade student who is too sick/weak to come into school. While she is initially nervous about accepting the tutoring position, she does so after long discussion with her family. Yuri is the son of two Ukrainian immigrants, Katya and Sasha. Katya used to be a ballerina and Sasha is a scientist. Through Maggie’s tutoring, the family forms a close bond that impacts everybody’s lives.

Maggie is the ideal young English teacher. She is passionate, energized, and still has the rose colored glasses that only comes with being early in your career. She has recently moved out to Long Island with her college boyfriend, so there is also some life stories that occur. Yuri, has a heart condition that causes his weakness. Since he was constantly sick in 5th grade, his doctor has recommended that this year he does not attend school. He is also a baseball fanatic and this comes into play a lot in the story.

I can so easily picture this book becoming a movie. It has multiple inspirational characters including, most obviously, Maggie and Yuri, but also side characters like Maggie’s parents and her close friend Suzie. The story is heartwarming and follows a lot of (for lack of a better term) tropes of movies that can pull on your heartstrings.

There is some drama with Maggie and her college boyfriend Bill that I could’ve done without. I didn’t find that storyline to be necessary. I think that he could’ve been removed completely without any impact on the story.

Even though the story is relatively predictable, the writing makes this story fly. While it was a little slow to start, once I got into it I couldn’t put this story down. It’s a little hard for me to talk about this book too much because I don’t want to ruin the experience of it for anyone.

Basically, the writing and the characters are top notch and, with the exception of the love storyline, I can’t find much fault with this book.

Grab a box of Kleenex and be prepared to cry. This novel is a gorgeous shout out to those teachers that change their students lives but are also open to having their students change their lives.

It will make you want to find your old teacher(s) and tell them how they influenced you.

I can rely on Alyson Richman for an emotionally resonant historical novel, and The Secret of Clouds delivered. At its heart it is two things: a tribute to teachers and love for child.

Told in two storylines, past and present, the first takes place in Kiev in the 1980s around the time of the disaster at Chernobyl. Katya is a promising ballerina, and Sasha is a graduate student. The two are in love when tragedy strikes. They later have a child, Yuri, born with a health condition due to the after effects of the disaster.

The present storyline blends a dedicated, loving teacher, Maggie, into the present day with Katya, Sasha, and young Yuri. Requiring a teacher in the home due to his significant health needs, Yuri and Maggie take some time getting to know each other, but when they develop a bond, Maggie draws inspiration from Yuri’s wisdom and zest for life.

Easy-to-read, full of emotion, I was invested wholeheartedly in the characters of The Secret of Clouds. Maggie as a teacher epitomizes most of the teachers I know – selflessly giving their time and love to their students, advocating for their best interests.

You simply have to read the book to know where the title comes from, and the story behind the “Family Cloud.” The afterword is also not to be missed as Richman describes her inspiration for the book and her thankfulness for the teachers in her and her children’s lives. Overall, The Secret of Clouds was moving and insightful, and I’m grateful I read it.

I received a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

This is a character driven novel that will have you rooting for the main characters. The plot moves along slowly, told in alternating views between the modern-day Maggie and Yuri’s parents lives before they came to America. One of the things that I really enjoyed about this book was all of the small details that were worked in. The discussion of Chernobyl and its impact as the cause of Yuri’s heart condition was both fascinating and painful to think of the people that were truly affected by the tragedy. I also loved the detail about Maggie’s father making violins and the descriptions that Richman gave. Small details like that really pull a character driven story together and I felt she did a wonderful job doing that. Overall, I really enjoyed the book and I look forward to Richman’s next book!

A stunning story that enveloped me completely and pulled at my heartstrings!

Every once in a while when you finish a book you know it’s going to stick with you for a long time, this was one of those books. There was just something about this story that touched me deeply, and I really can’t put my finger on it. Perhaps it was the fact that this is a beautiful love story and tribute to teachers everywhere, my mother was a teacher, my daughter is in school now to be a teacher, they hold a special place in my heart. Or perhaps it was watching Katya and Sasha’s emotional struggle dealing with a sick child Yuri. It could have even been Yuri’s incredible passion for baseball, a game he himself will never be able to play. Regardless of what it was that completely captivated me, this was one lovely and emotional story!

Maggie is excited for the start of the school year when her principal reaches out and asks if she would be willing to tutor a boy who cannot come to school due to illness. At first Maggie is a bit hesitant afraid it might dredge up some old ghostss, but Maggie has too much compassion not to help a child in need. In the beginning Yuri was not receptive at all to Maggie, until they bonded over baseball. We also got a glimpse of Katya and Sasha’s lives in the Ukraine. Katya was a ballerina and Sasha an engineer, they both were in the Ukraine for the Chernobyl disaster. Their guilt over it perhaps being there exposure to nuclear power leading to Yuri’s heart defect was palpable. This story was also peppered throughout with family, food, romance, friendship, Art, and the violin.

Yuri really stole the show and my heart in this book. There was just something so innocent yet so wise about him, and I loved his bond and relationship with his parents, Maggie, and Finn. The mom in me could not help but put myself in Katya’s shoes and the human in me could not help but put myself in Maggie’s, I felt this emotional journey with the hearts of both these wonderful ladies. Maggie was such an energetic passionate teacher I enjoyed every minute I spend with her in the classroom and out. Katya was such a lovely loving mother and I loved that we got to see pieces of her past. Sasha was a remarkable man and husband, and I found it interesting how differently these two dealt with their son’s illness. There’s a part in the story regarding an assignment and letters that will make your heart both sing and cry. I could go on and on, but I will spare you all! Just read it!

Beautiful, evocative, and emotional, absolutely recommend!

🎵🎵🎵Song Running Through My Head

Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I've looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way
I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It's cloud's illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all
Moons and Junes and ferries wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way
But now it's just another show
You leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care, don't let them know
Don't give yourself away
I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall
I really…


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8L1UngfqojI

*** many thanks to Berkley for my copy of this book ***

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Berkley, and Alyson Richman for the opportunity to read this book - a very touching, emotional read that will especially pull at the hearts of teachers.

Katya and Sasha are a young couple in Kiev where Sasha is a scientist and Katya a ballerina. They are forced to flee the country after a disaster and they immigrate to the US. They have a son, Yuri, who was born with a heart condition. Maggie is a middle school English teacher, enthusiastic and engaged with her students. When she is asked to tutor Yuri at home, she at first has doubts stemming from a childhood experience with a disabled child. But Maggie and Yuri soon bond when Maggie finds the passion that ignites Yuri.

Told in these opposite story lines, you cannot fail to feel all the emotion from every character. I loved the meaning of the title as well. Even though some things are predictable, this was a great read. 4.5 stars.

What a touching novel about embracing life. If you want a book to cuddle up, one that will work its way into your heart and leave you inspired, this is the novel for you.

I need to comment on the love between Katya and Sasha. I believe that these two have been living with some type of stress during their whole relationship. When they left Kiev and settled into America, I felt that they had to have known that they might be harboring some harmful effects of the disaster that had just occurred. No one really knew at that point what the future held for the victims of that disaster. Starting over in America, Katya would soon give birth to Yuri, a son who would be born with a rare heart defect.

The feelings that Sasha had to have felt as Yuri was diagnosed with this rare disease. Then, as the years passed and Yuri missed out on being a typical child, it had to be hard as a parent, to see their child not interacting with other children because of his disease. I felt overwhelmed for this couple as it seemed there was a dark cloud over them yet, you could see and feel the love between Sasha and Katya. They supported one another and looked out for each other. There could have been negative feelings/comments or a child who was angry but instead there was love.

When Maggie was brought into the picture, she questions exactly what she can do for Yuri. When asked to home-tutor him, Maggie sees him at face value. It isn’t until she connects with him, that she really sees what’s inside him and realizes that there is a little boy in there just waiting to come out. Maggie wants Yuri to have as much as a life as his disease will allow him to.

Meanwhile, Maggie is doing some growing on her own. Maggie is finding excitement in her work as she’s working with her students and Yuri. Incorporating new ideas and talking with others, Maggie is energized in finding ways to help her students be successful even though sometimes they might not always work. As she shares these ideas with her boyfriend, she finds that he is not always “there” for her. She had thought that moving in with her boyfriend would be the next step in their relationship but now, she has realized that he’s comfortable and content with life the way it is, while she is not.

There are many little lessons to take away from this novel which have to do with life. I was afraid that the ending was going to be sad but it ended on a positive note. It took me a while to get into this novel but once I got into it, I really enjoyed it.

I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.

The Secret of Clouds is about a young teacher, Maggie, whose enthusiasm for her middle school students and her passion for introducing them to the joys of reading and writing seems limitless. Maggie is asked to take on an additional role, tutoring a 12-year-old boy named Yuri who is unable to come to school because of a health condition. Hesitantly, Maggie agrees, but soon is completely charmed by this lonely boy and becomes determined to help him regain an interest in the world around him.

Bonding through his love of baseball, Maggie slowly draws Yuri out of his shell of apathy, and soon has him engaging with her and the worlds of literature she’s introduced him to with real interest and insight. As she begins to earn Yuri’s trust, Maggie also learns more about his parents, Katya and Sasha, and their desperate love for their ill son.

Katya and Sasha lived in Kiev at the time of the Chernobyl disaster, and while they themselves suffered no adverse effects, like so many others, their offspring suffered birth defects — in this case, a rare heart ailment — due to their own radiation exposure.

Meanwhile, as Maggie witnesses Yuri’s struggles to live his limited life to the fullest, she reassesses her own life and relationships, seeing where her true happiness lies and making the changes needed to live life to her best ability.

The Secret of Clouds is touching and appealing in many ways, yet something about the writing style let me down. It’s the old “show, don’t tell” issue: I felt like Maggie was sharing a summary of her experiences, rather than drawing me in enough to see the events myself. The writing kept me at a distance throughout, as entire months or sometimes years went by in the span of a few paragraphs. There was no sense of immediacy; I rarely felt as though I had entered into a scene or had a genuine moment of emotional connection. For example, when Maggie meets and falls in love with a new man in her life, it’s very nice for her, yet I’d be hard pressed to tell you a thing about him other than that he’s a musician and seems to be a really great guy. Granted, their love story was not the main point of this book, but he feels like a cipher to me.

From the synopsis, I expected Katya and Sasha to have equal time in this novel alongside Maggie, but that’s not the case. While we see their lives in Kiev in the early chapters, once it’s been established that they were exposed to fallout from Chernobyl, the story shifts entirely to its 1999/2000 setting, focusing on Maggie and Yuri. Katya and Sasha become supporting characters, in the background as Yuri’s parents, but not central point-of-view characters.

The Secret of Clouds is a fine read with an interesting story to tell, but unfortunately the writing style kept me from feeling truly emotionally invested. I will say, though, that if every student had a teacher as committed, idealistic, and compassionate as Maggie, the world would be a much, much better place!

DNF at 57%.

The beginning was so beautifully written, ballet scenes and start-of-school-year-optimism, casual rep for immigrants and illness. I was captivated for the first 20-30% of this book — vivid secondary characters, musings on storytelling and teaching like the quote above, sweet moments with individual students — and then the cracks really started to show as the "little" things that bugged me started to take up more space and have more impact on the story.

Honestly, a lot of my issues with this narrative can be traced back to Maggie, the primary narrator. Even for a fairly-new teacher, she does some objectively unprofessional things: laughing at a student's New Year resolutions, giving her chronically-ill one-on-one student "a playful punch on his arm," questioning her students' parents' judgment of what's [literally] safe for their kids, generalizing her students ("All teenage boys want to be outside playing ball"), even seeing herself as a kind of savior/supreme guide towards knowledge and adulthood.

And she's extremely judgmental, whether inside or outside the classroom — little moments that might've been tolerable if this book were being published years ago, before we as a society started paying more attention to inclusion and power imbalances — including promoting mild stalking as a "romantic" dating practice, needlessly labeling the other women in her life (i.e., the "prettier" best friend and the mother-in-law "belonging to that strange sphere of females who when you called them 'handsome,' everyone knew right away what you meant"), and having the one student with an Asian name (Lisa Yamamoto) making origami cranes and gifting her a "bento box with lacquered chopsicks" for Christmas. This is problematic in several ways, and I'm not here for it.

(Meanwhile I enjoyed Katya's backstory and flashback scenes, though maybe that's because we got less of it? In any case, the narrative didn't feel balanced between the two stories, and the placement of Katya's chapters felt arbitrary.)

This was a heartwarming book that made me laugh and cry and want to hug my loved ones. For any baseball fans out there, this is a must read. It was well written and the emotions were so realistic. I felt like I was in the story. This is a book that will stay in my heart for a long time.

This was such a beautiful story and it is one that has stayed with me even after I finished it. I loved that not only is there the main focus on Yuri and his teacher Maggie, but we get the back story to Yuri’s parents and Maggie’s life outside of being a teacher as well.

This book had an interesting mix of contemporary points of view and historical fiction as well. I was not bored nor was I confused with the varying points of views.

Each character’s story was full of life and moving. It was very easy to become attached to the characters. This book is so well written and I could not put it down. I will definitely be picking up her other books.

This is an interesting, “feel-good through tears” story that is slightly reminiscent of WONDER in the classroom scenes. A young English teacher home tutors Yuri, a sixth-grade boy who has a weak heart. Over the academic year, the teacher manages to break through Yuri’s displeasure at being at home by bonding over baseball. Her assignments to the class, and to Yuri, include keeping journals and writing letters to their 18-year-old selves. The teacher arranges to have another baseball-loving student visit Yuri regularly, and, towards the end of the school year, she convinces Yuri’s parents to allow him to attend school one day a week.
Most of the book describes that sixth-grade year. The last part, which covers the years until those students graduate, seems a bit rushed in comparison. The teacher’s personal life is also explored. To me the teacher seems overly obsessed with her students, and especially with Yuri, to the exclusion of almost everyone and everything else. I know many teachers are dedicated, but this teacher’s dedication seems exaggerated. I read a preprint courtesy of NetGalley, where the title of the book is sometimes referred to as A FAMILY CLOUD. After reading the book and understanding the significance of clouds, I prefer that title.