The hardest part of writing Another Year of Books is this intro paragraph. Sometimes, I have a hundred things to say. Other days, like today, I can’t think of even one. I’ve complained about the weather plenty of times, I’ve mentioned my love of walking to the library at lunch, and besides some family visits and yard work, my week has been pretty ordinary. So, I’ll just get right to the point:

Book Read: The Secret of Clouds
Author: Alyson Richman
Number of Books Read, 2019 Edition: 25

Maggie is a former PR assistant, who found her calling teaching language arts to sixth graders. In her second year of teaching, she is asked to take on a special assignment - home tutoring a student with a rare heart condition, who cannot attend school daily. 

So begins Maggie and Yuri’s friendship. Bonded by baseball, the Mets / Yankees rivalry and a love of writing, Maggie discovers that while she is teaching Yuri, he is educating her on what it means to be strong and without knowing, pushes Maggie to make changes in her own life.

The supporting cast includes an art teacher who is a voice of reason, Katya and Sasha, immigrants who fear a tragedy in their native Kiev caused their son’s heart condition, an attractive music teacher fond of homemade violins, and Finn, a boy wise beyond his years.

As Yuri moves onto to seventh grade, his family’s and Maggie’s friendship continues to grow, until one needs all the strength the other has taught them. 

I found this book on the new releases shelf at the library one day at lunch (go figure). I had never heard of it nor the author, Alyson Richman, but I figured I’d give it a try. Boy, am I glad I did. 

I found myself getting lost in this book each time I I picked it up. On the 35 minute bus ride home, I’d read upwards of 60 pages, just turning and turning and turning. This book moves quickly but it has depth and character. The characters are well developed and each have their own plot lines to follow, that all intermingle with each other.

This is a story about a teacher’s impact, a child’s outlook of the world, and a mother’s love. It includes flashbacks of Katya’s and Sasha’s time in Kiev to provide the background needed for other parts of the book. Without these flashbacks, the book wouldn’t have flowed as well as it did. It gave more context into the family’s concerns and actions.

Richman has a winner with The Secret of Clouds. The book ends with a beautiful thought: “in the sky above us, every family has its own special cloud” where we can all wait for those we love to join us. Like I said, a beautiful thought.

Next Read: The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal