Vivid Illustration and symbolic representation has made Kumo a mesmerizing story.Author Kyo Maclear and children books editorial illustrator Nathalie Dion have come up together to create an amazing story named Kumo.
Kumo is a symbolic representation of overcoming shyness and letting yourself bloom to the fullest.Kumo is a beautiful cloud who wanted to be invisible through all of her life but she got called for cloud duty.Her self doubt, shyness made her overwhelmed to be seen.Gradually she fought back and fulfilled her duties of being cloud.She fleet freely,made friends and eventually let herself be fulfilled.
Indeed this amazing story gives an amazing lesson to everyone whose self doubt is taking over their confidence. This story is letting us know the beauty of being visible, heard and free.

Children are often fascinated by clouds. What a wonderful way of incorporating social emotional aspects of being seen and change, with the concept of clouds. Amazing book!

The art style is perfect for the story. The soft pastels work wonderfully with the descriptions of the floating clouds. I definitely enjoyed reading this title.

Love, Love, Loved! Kumo by Kyo Maclear is just a beautiful book, the illustrations by Nathalie Dion are endearing. What a beautiful story, I loved the science of it, with the use of the clouds Cumulus and Cirrus, I loved the part of the love letter, that brought true joy into my voice as I read it aloud, and when the "...sunset clouds turned over..." what a thoughtful way to describe how the night sky appears. Loved this book!

"Kumo: The Bashful Cloud" is an adorable childrens illustrated book. It's a short childrens book that follows a sky cloud named Kumo, who has to become visible for the first time and gets to explore the world.

There's not that much going on in this book in my opinion and it feels like this book is mostly for toddlers and around there. It's a cute and simple childrens book.

The writing was really nice and from someone who's first language isn't English, I feel like the language in this book isn't to difficult for a child to understand.

This book definately feels like a book I would gift to a family member or friend with a toddler, but I'm not really sure if I would recommend this book to anyone.

Kumo is the beautiful story of a shy cloud and overcoming their fears of being seen.

Not only is the artwork in this story book absolutely stunning but I don't know if I have ever related to a book to this level. On almost every page there was somethign which I could relate to and link to a specific event in my own life.

I was a pre-teen when I experienced those experiences that I can relate to this book but I think introducing that these are normal feelings and that they do eventually go away is a great message to be sharing with younger children.

Such a cute story! I loved the beautiful artwork on each paper. The story was short, sweet, and to the point which I think would make a perfect fit for young kids! It had such a feeling of happy and lightness throughout..just like we were Kumo even just for a few pages. Lovely!

ARC Copy...It was beautiful soft and gentle both in illustration style and word choice. Liked the cloud is having coming of age anxiety like young children would and Kumo does make floating up in the clouds a soothing experience.

The soft colors of the art is relaxing. There are so man details included in each page there is a lot to take your time and look at.

Kumo is a shy cloud afraid to be seen by people, afraid of not being a good enough cloud. But when Kumo is brave she finds joy in watching people, helping people and being with other clouds and alone.

The story is peaceful but also encouraging to try new things. And since it ends with Kumo going to sleep, a great bed time story!

Kumo, written by Kyo Maclear and illustrated by Nathalie Dion, is quiet and cute little book, a soothing pre-bedtime read in both look and language. It tells the story of a shy little cloud, Kumo, who “for many years” only wished to “float unseen.” But when one cloud is “under the weather” and another is off to a cloud convention, Kumo has to take over “cloud duty — to shade and shower those below.”

She’s more than a little hesitant, her mind “heavy with doubt,” and truth be told she struggles just a little at the start, getting stuck. But thanks to a friendly kite and gust of wind she’s off “drift[ing] over noise cities … cross[ing] a warm lake, lapping water as she went, “and more. She sends down some rain, provides from shade, watches over a daydreaming boy with “his head in the clouds,” and even meets some fellow clouds whom she joins for a while. Finally, night falls, and “all the sunset cloud turned over, and their backs were midnight blue.”

It's a gentle story, quiet as noted. The language is simple and pleasurable, if not particularly lyrical or lingering. It mostly has a nice rhythm to it. I thought perhaps a bit more could have been done both stylistically and with experiences, and at one point when she lets “tears of rain” fall, I wondered why “tears” and what sort of questions that might raise in children. But it’s certainly a solid story language wise. The artwork is equally gentle and soothing, soften and pastel, and the billowing cloud shapes are nicely done. It’s a nice book to simply look at, and children I think will fall into the art’s quiet spell

A calm and pleasant read – certainly one that's very pretty to look at – but one that feels a touch ineffectual. A lonely little cloud is just too shy to go about where she can be seen – but enjoys it once she takes the plunge, gets her head above the parapet and finds friends. Is the intent of the book really obvious to the very young reader it's aimed at? I'm unconvinced, hence my thought that it's a diversion more than anything. If it does work as a lesson about shyness, then I'm all for it being considered, for it has some visual class I enjoyed. If it works, four stars – but I'd rather hedge my bets with my feeling of doubt about it being successful.

The illustrations are light and airy and playfully perfect for the story. And the color palette is spot on for evoking the right balance of tranquility, calmness, and playfulness. Cirrus and Cumulus under the weather illustrations were oddballs and didn't match the story as much as they could have. I didn't love the story. It was ok. As an adult reader, I think the idea of a cloud going on cloud duty (jury duty?) or to a conference was strange and that may be confusing for a child. Glaciers singing and fields swaying seemed awkward to me too. Overall, I think it's a beautiful book, and it encourages the reader to engage the imagination in ways that are a little more refined and more delightful than I've seen in other cloud or stargazing books. A delightful ride.

A sweet, calm story of a shy cloud who wishes to be "unseen" is one day given cloud duty. Pulling all her fluff about her, Kumo gathered the strength/confidence needed to do her job. The bashful cloud discovered that "being seen" is alright, and learns that helping others is rewarding. Cleverly written by Kyo Maclear with a few Japanese words interspersed, a short glossary in the back. Recommended for classroom/school libraries. Beautifully illustrated by Nathalie Dion.

5 Stars |

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!

This book was absolutely adorable, and the illustrations were gorgeous! Highly recommend this to educators, librarians, as well as parents and guardians of young children!

what a cute book! I loved following Kumo the cloud through her travels across the world. The illustrations in this book were gorgeous, and I appreciated that there were very few words on each page so that we could really be engrossed in the images. I think this could teach kids about finding and loving themselves, as well as just being a cute, fun story to read to them.

Soft, soothing, airy illustrations about a bashful cloud’s journey.

This is a good book for budding readers for a lot of reasons. It has potential to foster passions in a lot of things like art and conservation. A young scientist will happen across it’s mentions of different types of clouds, cumulus and cirrus, and realize for the first time how interested they are in cloud formations. A young linguist will find the Japanese glossary in the back of the book and ask to learn a new language.

The book is a good length and features some unique words for language acquisition. A great option for new readers.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a cute story about a cloud and the illustrations were very classic! I liked reading about Kumo.

What happens if you're happy being mostly unseen but are suddenly called into service that makes you more visible? Follow the title character, Kumo (Japanese for "cloud"), as she floats from place to place, providing shade and rain, getting increasingly comfortable with not being so anonymous. Dreamy illustrations. Would recommend to both shy and no-shy readers.

This book tells the story of Kumo, a shy cloud, who wants to stay alone in the sky. When forced to face her shyness and do her duties as a cloud she learns that there are others out there in the world she might like to get to know. Teaching readers that there can be benefits from facing your fears and letting yourself be vulnerable, this book contains both a beautiful story and also an important lesson. With beautiful illustrations, especially of the fluffy clouds, as well as limited text, about 1-2 sentences per double page, this book is sure to capture the interest of young readers in the age 3-7 age range. As a teacher, I also appreciate that weather (science) terms such as cumulus are used throughout, offering opportunities for curriculum connections on top of the already obvious mental health and mindset lessons this book can inspire. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this beautiful book!