Little Cloud and Lady Wind

by Toni Morrison (Author) Sean Qualls (Illustrator)

Little Cloud and Lady Wind
Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade
Little Cloud likes her own place in the sky, away from the other clouds. There, the sky is all hers. She is free to make her own way and go where she wishes. Can Lady Wind show Little Cloud the power of being with others? Will Little Cloud agree there is strength in unity and change her ways? A fresh take on a classic story, Little Cloud and Lady Wind will teach kids how to work together to achieve their goals.
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Publishers Weekly

The Morrisons ("Peeny Butter Fudge") examine the problem of being part of a group while maintaining one's identity. Quietly rebellious Little Cloud will not join the other clouds, who want to terrify the earth with storm and thunder. She loves the earth and wants to live there. Lady Wind carries her through a storm and brings her to a valley spangled with dew, mist, and a rainbow, as Little Cloud learns she can be part of the earth without losing her cloudness. In Qualls's ("Before John Was a Jazz Giant") collages, Little Cloud has pensive expressions and puffy blue hair, while Lady Wind has the flowing hair and gown of a goddess. The homey, cut-and-paste nature of the pencil lines, cut-paper stars, and pale blue paint strokes forms a comfortable counterpoint to the mythic dimensions of the story. Despite some lyrical passages (Little Cloud looked again and saw a necklace of many colors stretching from her place in the sky to the valley), the text sometimes feels heavy-handed; the conclusion, in contrast to the story's espousal of freedom, seems preordained. Ages 4-8. "(Jan.)"

Copyright 2010 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 3 When the biggest cloud calls all of the others together in order to "terrify the earth with storm and thunder," Little Cloud wanders away to a quiet place in the sky. She enjoys her freedom and longs to engage with such earthly delights as flowers and ocean waves. Lady Wind observes her dreams and carries her off, past the pursuing thunderclouds, the lightning, and the dark mountains. In the morning, they arrive at a place where Little Cloud can see a rainbow, dew falling from her garments, and mist, and she happily declares, "Now I see. I can be me "and" part of something too." Young readers will empathize with Little Cloud's desire to be independent and free from what is expected of her, and they will feel her happiness at finding a place where she can realize her dreams with the help of a nurturing figure. But the oft-told story is tired, and even Qualls's whimsical depictions of a cherubic little girl with cloud hair and a Thelonius Monk-channeling storm cloud can't freshen it. The message of Aesop's "The Bundle of Sticks," that there is "strength in unity" the fable that Morrison claims inspired this talei s lost on young readers."C. J. Connor, Campbell County Public Library, Cold Spring, KY"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

The Morrisons present a modern fable about the need for independence as well as the beauty of being a part of everything else. Little Cloud discovers I can be me and part of something too.—Yellow Brick Road, May/June 2010
Toni Morrison

TONI MORRISON is the author of eleven novels and three essay collections. She received the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and in 1993 the Nobel Prize in Literature. She died in 2019.

Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781416985235
Lexile Measure
550
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
Publication date
January 26, 2010
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV039140 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance
JUV012030 - Juvenile Fiction | Fairy Tales & Folklore | General
JUV022000 - Juvenile Fiction | Legends, Myths, & Fables | General
Library of Congress categories
Clouds
Individuality
Winds

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