Harry Christmas (yes that is his name) and Angie Moon build a tree house in the backyard with the help of their fathers. These kids are great friends and almost share a birthday since they were born two days apart. Angie calls them "almost twins." The new tree house is the perfect place to explore their passions. Harry loves clouds and Angie loves to draw. They name their tree house Artcloud. Angie is not keen on writing but she is given a diary and so much is happening in her life the diary becomes the perfect place to share her roller coaster of emotions.
Harry becomes ill. No one seems to want to tell Angie what is wrong. Harry is taken to hospital and it is clear this is very serious.
"Dear Diary,
I went to see Harry today! He was whiter than the bed sheets, his head was just one big bandage and there were drips and tubes everywhere - it freaked me out. He didn't talk but when I stroked his hand he grabbed by finger, like little Solo."
The relationship and difficult times experienced by Harry and Angie (as told by Angie through her diary) are only half the story, though. Grandma Gertie is staying with Angie and her family following the arrival of a new baby (Solo) and she has also come to see the exhibition of a special quilt. When she was a child Grandma Gertie was taken prisoner in Singapore and sent to Changi. The treatment of the prisoners, including very young children, was utterly terrible but Gertie survived and so did some of the letters she wrote to her cat, a quilt made in the camp by the children and the young boy who she later married when they were reunited as adults. Reading these letters allows Angie and Harry glimpse what Gertie went through during World War II and they are an interesting way to share this period in history with a mature primary school reader.
The making of a quilt is also used as a way to link the stories of past and present. Angie decides to make a quilt for Harry and to fill it with shared memories. The pace of her sewing and her decisions of the images to include match the details we read in the letters written by Gertie as she and the other prisoners work on their quilt. Make sure you watch this video about the making of the quilt. You can hear Olga Henderson (nee Morris) who was the inspiration for Cloud Boy. Marcia Williams explains how she saw the Changi quilt in the V&A Museum in London.
"I saw the Changi Guide quilt in 2010 ... I was immediately struck by how, after so many years, this quilt is still a powerful symbol of young people's love and endurance."
If you share this book with a mature senior primary reader and they are curious to know more about the fall of Singapore I would recommend reading Lizard's Tale followed by The Happiness Box by Mark Greenwood.
When I read an emotional book I usually cry even when I anticipate the sad ending but in the case of Cloud Boy I didn't and this puzzles me. I did find Cloud Boy a compelling read and I did enjoy the voice of Angie along with the way she honestly expresses her emotions including her anger at Harry for being ill and her confusion about the way all the adults she trusts want to protect her from the truth.
Click on this link to read another review:
This is not an easy read in terms of subject matter, but it is worth acknowledging that not all children’s books can be filled with happy endings – not everything does end happily. However, there are glimpses of hope and optimism, and the possibility of how life continues despite the adversity faced. Minerva Reads
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