Kumo Av Kyo Maclear, Nathalie Dion

The uplifting journey of a cloud ('kumo' in Japanese) who overcomes her shyness -- and discovers the rewards of feeling seen. Kumo is a bashful cloud whose only wish is to float unseen. When she's assigned cloud duty for the day, she feels overwhelmed by self-doubt and her fear of being noticed. But after learning that closing your eyes isn't a good solution to your troubles, Kumo pulls her fluff together and does her duties -- drifting, releasing rain and providing shelter -- meeting some new friends along the way and inspiring the imagination (and capturing the heart) of a small daydreamer like her. Kyo Maclear's sweetly humorous and lyrical parable about overcoming shyness, inspired by her own experience as an author, and vividly brought to life by Nathalie's Dion's ethereal illustrations, is an affirmation of the pleasures of community and the confidence that can arise from friendship and visibility.