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Lizzy and the Cloud
The tale of a young girl who cares for her pet cloud as it grows.
It’s a little out of fashion to buy a pet cloud, but Lizzy doesn’t mind. She’s not looking for a big one or a fancy one, just one that’s right for her. And she finds it in Milo.
Soon, she’s taking Milo out on walks with her family, watering Milo right on schedule, and seeing Milo grow and grow. But what happens when her pet cloud gets too big for Lizzy to handle?
It’s a little out of fashion to buy a pet cloud, but Lizzy doesn’t mind. She’s not looking for a big one or a fancy one, just one that’s right for her. And she finds it in Milo.
Soon, she’s taking Milo out on walks with her family, watering Milo right on schedule, and seeing Milo grow and grow. But what happens when her pet cloud gets too big for Lizzy to handle?
55 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 3, 2022
3 people are currently reading
602 people want to read
About the author
Terry Fan
19 books178 followersTerry Fan received his formal art training at Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, Canada. His work is a blend of traditional and contemporary techniques, using ink or graphite mixed with digital. He spends his days (and nights) creating magical paintings, portraits, and prints. Terry is the cocreator of The Night Gardener, It Fell from the Sky, and Lizzy and the Cloud. Born in Illinois, he now lives in Toronto.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 194 reviews
May 8, 2022
At last- a story about my childhood dream of having my very own cloud! I sat down right on the floor of the store, deaf and blind to anything but the story unfolding before me.
May 25, 2022
Oh my goodness!!! How adorable 🤗I had a wonderful opportunity to have this book delivered to my inbox in my email from SimonKIDS last night and read this sweet book just now!! It's a wonderful video that shows the authors Terry and Eric Fan holding up the book, then as they read this sweet book aloud, they turn the book to the camera and flip the pages so you can read along! How creative!! The illustrations are simply beautiful ❤️. Lizzy is a little girl who wants to have a cloud ☁️ as her pet. She gets an instruction manual about caring for clouds and calls her cloud Milo☁️☁️☁️Such a wonderful book for kids of all ages. If you get the chance to view this video, please do!!! I very highly recommend this emotionally moving book!! Thank you SimonKIDS for the beautiful video, I loved it!!!!
March 13, 2023
Brothers Terry and Eric Fan built a reputation as innovative picture book author/illustrators well before Lizzy and the Cloud, but this book was the next step in their evolution. On a Saturday jaunt in the park with her parents, Lizzy buys a cloud from the Cloud Seller. Passing over ones elaborately shaped like animals, Lizzy opts for a conventional little cloud, and is determined to take care of it. Following the detailed list of instructions will be key to maintaining the cloud's happiness. She names him Milo, and goes out of her way to keep him watered and take him on outdoor walks so he won't feel cooped up.
Over time Milo grows larger, until he dominates the sky on an otherwise sunny day at the beach, and is capable of creating a thunderstorm inside Lizzy's bedroom. She can read the signs: Milo is ready to head out on his own and experience the world in full freedom. Is Lizzy ready to let her cloud float free to horizons beyond where she can go? Goodbye isn't easy, but Lizzy always did put Milo's needs first. And maybe, when the time is right, girl and cloud will meet again.
There are multiple layers to the story, but Lizzy's time with Milo deftly reflects the process of parenthood. If you nourish a young one properly, they eventually grow beyond the bounds of your household. Neither of you has done anything wrong; it just means they are ready to test your teachings in the real world without your constant mitigating presence, because you have given them what they needed to flourish. As these feelings of independence manifest, but before the young one is actually ready to be on their own, your relationship is sure to face conflict; pick your battles and be openhearted, however, and the relationship can still bloom. I'd rate Lizzy and the Cloud two and a half stars, and if there were a stronger emotional tone I would round to three. The artwork is subtle yet extraordinary, and the quiet story has deep roots. The Fan brothers know their craft.
Over time Milo grows larger, until he dominates the sky on an otherwise sunny day at the beach, and is capable of creating a thunderstorm inside Lizzy's bedroom. She can read the signs: Milo is ready to head out on his own and experience the world in full freedom. Is Lizzy ready to let her cloud float free to horizons beyond where she can go? Goodbye isn't easy, but Lizzy always did put Milo's needs first. And maybe, when the time is right, girl and cloud will meet again.
There are multiple layers to the story, but Lizzy's time with Milo deftly reflects the process of parenthood. If you nourish a young one properly, they eventually grow beyond the bounds of your household. Neither of you has done anything wrong; it just means they are ready to test your teachings in the real world without your constant mitigating presence, because you have given them what they needed to flourish. As these feelings of independence manifest, but before the young one is actually ready to be on their own, your relationship is sure to face conflict; pick your battles and be openhearted, however, and the relationship can still bloom. I'd rate Lizzy and the Cloud two and a half stars, and if there were a stronger emotional tone I would round to three. The artwork is subtle yet extraordinary, and the quiet story has deep roots. The Fan brothers know their craft.
October 7, 2022
I'm here with something a little different today and
that is a children's book. @inkfishbooks here in
Rhode Island recommended to me Lizzy and the
Cloud. I recently spent a week with my grandchild
while my daughter and her husband were traveling
and I can't tell you how many times we read this
story. I was as enchanted as she was. It is a
beautiful story by the @thefanbrothers with
gorgeous illustrations. It's about a little girl who goes
to the park each Saturday with her parents and what
she wants more than anything is to buy a cloud from
the Cloud Seller. I loved it so much I had to also buy
The Night Gardener, which is equally beautiful, lyrical
and magical. I am a new fan of The Fan Brothers and
I highly recommend their books for any age, old or
young! #fallreads #fridayreads #lizzyandthecloud Watch: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cjav5i...
that is a children's book. @inkfishbooks here in
Rhode Island recommended to me Lizzy and the
Cloud. I recently spent a week with my grandchild
while my daughter and her husband were traveling
and I can't tell you how many times we read this
story. I was as enchanted as she was. It is a
beautiful story by the @thefanbrothers with
gorgeous illustrations. It's about a little girl who goes
to the park each Saturday with her parents and what
she wants more than anything is to buy a cloud from
the Cloud Seller. I loved it so much I had to also buy
The Night Gardener, which is equally beautiful, lyrical
and magical. I am a new fan of The Fan Brothers and
I highly recommend their books for any age, old or
young! #fallreads #fridayreads #lizzyandthecloud Watch: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cjav5i...
May 1, 2022
A new book by The Fan Brothers which means two things: 1. it's beautiful and 2. it conveys a message in a new and creative way.
February 16, 2023
A simple yet touching story that gave the gorgeous, whimsical, and detailed illustrations room to shine. I know I would have stared at this book for hours as a kid. 😉
May 5, 2022
5 stars for another Wonderful Fan Brothers Book. If I was still a child, I would love to be gifted with any Fan Brothers Book. They are simple, beautifully illustrated, teach important lessons, and for an adult pull on your heartstrings....I love #7 on the list.....
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May 10, 2022Dreamily illustrated, this picture book shows a caring way to recognize what needs to be freed from our lives, and how to let go. Spare and sweet, this book feels like permission to remove a weight from heavy shoulders.
May 18, 2022
This picture book has a totally unique premise, and the story delivers it well. The illustrations are gorgeous, with a wonderful use of muted, subtle color and light to convey emotion, and the book shares a nice message without being preachy.
November 14, 2022
Lovely old-fashioned setting, art, concept. Plus I am amused that GoodReads is unable to work with "The Fan Brothers" as author, despite Library of Congress CIP info.
Library copy
Library copy
May 13, 2024
I want a pet cloud now haha
May 5, 2022
This review was originally written for The Baby Bookworm. Visit us for new picture books reviews daily!
Hello, friends! Our book today is Lizzy and the Cloud by The Fan Brothers, a magical meditation on loving and letting go.
Every Saturday, Lizzy and her parents go for a walk in the park. And while most of the children there are drawn to the puppet shows and carousel, today, Lizzy heads straight for the cloud seller. While the vendor offers clouds in animal shapes and various sizes, Lizzy wants only a small, ordinary cloud to take home. After reading the instructions for its care, Lizzy dedicates herself to making her new cloud, Milo, feel at home. She waters him and walks him, and he nourishes her rare plant collection in turn. Until the day that Milo, being so well-cared for, has outgrown the Lizzy’s bedroom. What is a little girl to do when her cloud is ready to move out into a bigger sky?
Fabulous. We make no bones about the fact that we are fans of The Fan Brothers’ talent for telling original and unique fables that blend the extraordinary with the everyday, and this is another quietly fantastic tale to add to their catalog. The approachable yet heartfelt text beautifully explores a complicated theme: knowing when to let go of something you love. While this concept can often be a painful one, the Fans deftly explore the fulfillment in doing the right thing for something or someone you love by allowing them to move on, and in enjoying the memories of your time together, even when they are bittersweet. The Fan’s signature palette of grays is enhanced here with a muted color scheme that subtly conveys the emotions of each scene in which it appears. The length is great for an elementary storytime, and JJ loved the imagery of curly-haired Lizzy and her pet cloud. Overall, this is another stunner from the Fans, and we wholeheartedly recommend it. Baby Bookworm approved!
(Note: A copy of this book was provided to The Baby Bookworm by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)
Be sure to check out The Baby Bookworm for more reviews!
June 24, 2022
3.5 stars. A sweet story and lovely illustrations.
February 22, 2024
Beautiful illustrations
September 12, 2022
Read for CuTieS book club September 12, 2021
Theme: Weather Stories
Lovely, soft illustrations! Such a unique and fun story, simple and easy to follow!
Theme: Weather Stories
Lovely, soft illustrations! Such a unique and fun story, simple and easy to follow!
May 5, 2022
Genius work of art; genius work of heart.
A level of great that only the Fan Brothers could so perfectly produce.
A level of great that only the Fan Brothers could so perfectly produce.
September 19, 2022
A young girl gets a pet cloud that eventually outgrows her family’s apartment.
This picture book uses a cloud as a metaphor for a pet that is fine when it is small but unmanageable when it is bigger. Although the story puts a if you love someone, set him/her free spin on the issue rather than presenting an actual caveat, the truth is that one simply can’t set most pets "free" when taking care of them becomes too difficult.
Animals raised in captivity do not possess the same skills as those in the wild and will die if turned loose. Plenty of goldfish get dumped into streams in parks once their owners have lost interest, and they fare better than most unwanted pets until they become food for the crawdads and frogs. Our neighborhood is full of stray cats eating out of garbage cans and scraping by as best they can once their owners dumped them off or turned them out.
The world is littered with pets like iguanas, turtles, pigs, and dogs that are dumped on shelters or outright abandoned once they have outgrown a family’s available space. Then there are pets like parrots that can live 50 years but whose owners aren’t up for a 50 year commitment and pets like horses that require a lot of work and expense for which to provide basic care.
A better moral would be not to casually buy a pet at the local fun fair.
This picture book uses a cloud as a metaphor for a pet that is fine when it is small but unmanageable when it is bigger. Although the story puts a if you love someone, set him/her free spin on the issue rather than presenting an actual caveat, the truth is that one simply can’t set most pets "free" when taking care of them becomes too difficult.
Animals raised in captivity do not possess the same skills as those in the wild and will die if turned loose. Plenty of goldfish get dumped into streams in parks once their owners have lost interest, and they fare better than most unwanted pets until they become food for the crawdads and frogs. Our neighborhood is full of stray cats eating out of garbage cans and scraping by as best they can once their owners dumped them off or turned them out.
The world is littered with pets like iguanas, turtles, pigs, and dogs that are dumped on shelters or outright abandoned once they have outgrown a family’s available space. Then there are pets like parrots that can live 50 years but whose owners aren’t up for a 50 year commitment and pets like horses that require a lot of work and expense for which to provide basic care.
A better moral would be not to casually buy a pet at the local fun fair.
February 18, 2024
Lizzy menemukan sebuah awan di taman. Awan ini seperti hewan peliharaan. Lizzy menamakan awannya Milo. Ada manual instruksi yang harus diikuti untuk memelihara sebuah awan. Semakin haru Milo semakin besar, dan akhirnya memenuhi kamar Lizzy. Sampai suatu ketika, Milo mengeluarkan suara keras dan air hujan yang banyak. Ternyata Lizzy melupakan satu hal penting dari manual perawatan awan, "Never confine a cloud to a small place".
Gambar ilustrasinya menarik, meski didominasi warna kelabu dan sedikit warna kuning. Tapi itu membuat buku ini menjadi lebih bagus.
Gambar ilustrasinya menarik, meski didominasi warna kelabu dan sedikit warna kuning. Tapi itu membuat buku ini menjadi lebih bagus.
December 24, 2024
نمیدونم برداشت من از کتاب درست بود یا نه،
ولی خوبی و قشنگی کتابهای کودک اینه که هم بچه ها و هم بزرگسالها میتونن برداشت های متفاوتی ازشون داشته باشن!
به نظر من ابر لیزی مثل فرزند یک انسان بود،
فرزندی که باید ازش مراقبت کرد، بهش توجه کرد و وقتی که بزرگ شد، رهاش کرد تا بره پی زندگی و آرزوهای خودش!
بد نیست این کتاب رو والدین بچه ها هم بخونن تا یاد بگیرن از یک جایی به بعد نگه داشتن فرزندانشون کنار خودشون، خانواده و در بند یک سری مسائل، حکم زندانی کردن اونها رو داره!
یک روز بالاخره باید بچه ها رو رها کرد تا وارد مرحله ی جدیدی از زندگیشون بشن و این گریزناپذیره..
کتاب واقعا پیام و مفهوم مهم و آموزنده ای داشت و تصویرسازی هاش بسیار دلنشین بودن..!
ولی خوبی و قشنگی کتابهای کودک اینه که هم بچه ها و هم بزرگسالها میتونن برداشت های متفاوتی ازشون داشته باشن!
به نظر من ابر لیزی مثل فرزند یک انسان بود،
فرزندی که باید ازش مراقبت کرد، بهش توجه کرد و وقتی که بزرگ شد، رهاش کرد تا بره پی زندگی و آرزوهای خودش!
بد نیست این کتاب رو والدین بچه ها هم بخونن تا یاد بگیرن از یک جایی به بعد نگه داشتن فرزندانشون کنار خودشون، خانواده و در بند یک سری مسائل، حکم زندانی کردن اونها رو داره!
یک روز بالاخره باید بچه ها رو رها کرد تا وارد مرحله ی جدیدی از زندگیشون بشن و این گریزناپذیره..
کتاب واقعا پیام و مفهوم مهم و آموزنده ای داشت و تصویرسازی هاش بسیار دلنشین بودن..!
Read
May 23, 2022Another hit from the Fan brothers, this creative, timeless picture book blends whimsy with the gentle ache of letting someone you love fly free. When Lizzy buys a pet cloud at the park, she promises to take care of it and she does. She waters Milo every day, she takes him on walks, and he grows bigger and bigger. Until one day Lizzy has to keep her last (and most important promise) never to keep a cloud in an enclosed space. It's time for Milo to go free. Love it.
July 29, 2022
Another winner from the Fan Brothers!! This is absolutely ADORABLE IN ALL WAYS!!!!
First of all, I am a huge fan of the Fan Brothers' artwork, and this book does not disappoint.
Second of all, how cute is this story? A vendor selling clouds instead of balloons? (And, as the text notes, it's gone quite out of fashion!) The cloud comes with care instructions, which Lizzy attempts to follow closely. But the cloud grows, as clouds do, and you cannot keep a cloud in your bedroom forever.
First of all, I am a huge fan of the Fan Brothers' artwork, and this book does not disappoint.
Second of all, how cute is this story? A vendor selling clouds instead of balloons? (And, as the text notes, it's gone quite out of fashion!) The cloud comes with care instructions, which Lizzy attempts to follow closely. But the cloud grows, as clouds do, and you cannot keep a cloud in your bedroom forever.
October 20, 2022
Lizzy foregoes carousels and puppet shows in order to buy herself an old-fashioned cloud who she names Milo. She carefully follows the instructions for her young cloud, and together Lizzy and Milo spend many happy days together. But then the time comes when Milo must venture out on his own, and Lizzy must find a way to let him go.
Just what we have come to expect from the fabulous Fan Brothers, with a gentle, thoughtful story and buoyant illustrations.
Just what we have come to expect from the fabulous Fan Brothers, with a gentle, thoughtful story and buoyant illustrations.
May 19, 2022
This is an adorable story. One Saturday that Lizzy went to the park with her parents she bought a cloud from the Cloud Seller. (Clouds of different shapes could be purchased like helium-filled balloons on strings.) The little cloud came with an instruction manual so that Lizzy knew how to care for her cloud. She learned to understand her cloud's moods, but, eventually, the cloud got so big and nothing Lizzy did would make it smaller again. Lizzy knew she had a problem to solve.
This is a sweet story with a lovely ending and fabulous illustrations.
This is a sweet story with a lovely ending and fabulous illustrations.
October 15, 2022
The tale of a young girl who cares for her pet cloud as it grows.
It’s a little out of fashion to buy a pet cloud, but Lizzy doesn’t mind. She’s not looking for a big one or a fancy one, just one that’s right for her. And she finds it in Milo.
Soon, she’s taking Milo out on walks with her family, watering Milo right on schedule, and seeing Milo grow and grow. But what happens when her pet cloud gets too big for Lizzy to handle?
It’s a little out of fashion to buy a pet cloud, but Lizzy doesn’t mind. She’s not looking for a big one or a fancy one, just one that’s right for her. And she finds it in Milo.
Soon, she’s taking Milo out on walks with her family, watering Milo right on schedule, and seeing Milo grow and grow. But what happens when her pet cloud gets too big for Lizzy to handle?
Read
May 23, 2022Cute story and illustrations.
May 23, 2022
This book has the sweetest, softest illustrations, and a fabulously magical story about a little girl and her cloud balloon. Definitely worth a spot on your child's bookcase.
June 7, 2022
A charming tale about a pet cloud. Nurturing, and loving. I’m torn about the ending.
February 16, 2023
Adorable. 🥺
March 3, 2023
Another gorgeous book by the Fan Brothers
July 25, 2024
Never underestimate the Fan brothers. The minimalist use of color here is breathtaking, and the message a classic. Beautiful.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 194 reviews