What a fantastic story. Katya and Sasha lived through the Chernobyl disaster and are now safely in the United States. Most of the story takes place years after they moved and centers around their son who is living with a heart condition that has the ability to be fatal. They are protective of their son which leads to Maggie a teacher coming to their home to tutor him to try to keep him up to speed. Maggie will turn their world upside down in all the best ways.

The big thing I loved about this book was the focus on teachers and the impact that teachers can make on children. Maggie was not a perfect character, by no means. She had things going on, but when she entered the classroom or Yuri's home she put it all aside and put the kids first and really wanted to teach them in the best way possible. I really enjoyed reading about a teacher working and succeeding to inspire her pupils to learn to love to learn.

I liked the few chapters that went back in time and place to when Katya and Sasha met and their lives before they moved and before they had their son. It was great to get a glimpse into their lives that led them to where they were now and informed the decisions they were making for their family.

This was just a solid story and I would recommend it to all sorts of readers.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. It’s certainly an ode to our wonderful underpaid teachers who pour themselves into their students because they love teaching kids. Maggie Topper’s engagement with her middle school students bordered on passion. I wish she had been my kids’ teacher! Middle school is a well known period of raging hormones and uncertainty, but Ms Topper loved her students and was unfazed.

In the 20-something years my daughter-in-law has taught, she has had a number of crushing experiences with several students over the years, but she has poured everything into each kid, no matter what. When one received a cancer diagnosis, she cut her hair along with her student, in solidarity. It’s inconceivable to me that one student could completely unhinge a seasoned educator. I found the frequency of tears unbelievable. Don’t get me wrong - I thoroughly enjoyed the book and all the characters in it. We should embrace with Yuri the sentiment from Tuck Everlasting, that a life needs to lived fully, whether long or shot. Indeed!

This is a story that touches on the impact a teacher can have on their students. However, some things seemed a bit too neatly done, as there wasn’t as much drama or tension as I had expected, especially when having teacher/student scenes. I did enjoy the relationship she had with her students. However, it wasn’t exactly realistic, and the dialogue was a bit stilted.. I used to teach, and the kids aren’t always agreeable, etc. I liked how the two story lines were connected. Overall, this is a pleasant, yet average, read.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley, but I wasn't required to leave a positive review.

The Secret of Clouds is a book every teacher should read. Being a teacher, it reminded me of how close to my heart each of my students are regardless of their status, health, or situation in life. We never want to lose one of them in any way.. Alyson Richman's book hit home and strengthened my faith in my profession and life ever after,

A good story about the devotion many teachers have to their students. Maggie is asked to tutor a student who is too ill to leave home to go to school. I think teachers will love this book and will probably take away ideas they would like to try.

Maggie is tutoring Yuri, a young boy born to a Ukrainian immigrants. Yuri was born with a serious health condition which makes it impossible for him to attend school. The parents Katya and Yuri lived near Chernobyl and weren’t warned of the possible dangers to them or future children.

There are 2 story lines in this book. It is a fast read and mostly predictable. The story flows well and at times it is touching but it just didn’t grab me. Thank you to net galley for an advanced copy.

Charming book written about a family that lived in Russia when Chernobyl exploded. They lived close enough to be gravely affected. Plus they were not warned of the danger involved with the escaping radiation. Katya, an aspiring ballerina, spends her days lying in the sun and swimming in the river unaware of the danger. Her child is later born with a serious heart defect. They move to America and their son Kiev is not strong enough to attend public school. Maggie, a teacher from the local school takes on the assignment of tutoring Kiev. She helps him greatly to expand his world beyond the window of his room and in the process falls in love with him. Very touching story about family love, the teaching profession and dedication to both.

The Secret of Clouds is at times very touching as we see the relationship between Yuri and Maggie grow as she tutors and comes to care for this young man. The importance of words and stories in our lives and our need to live life to the fullest are good messages to spread. I just felt at times that it was a little too predictable and melodramatic. Still, I think this would make a good book club discussion book.

I received a personal email with a widget to download this title, and appreciate it, as always. I thought the story was unique and poignant, but the narrative tone and pace were not as enjoyable to me as other books I've read, This would be a 3 star read for me.

O-M-G this story was fantastic.

This has to be the most emotional book I have ever read and it was so touching. I came into this book blindly if I’m being honest, so I didn’t know what was about to go down. I just knew that it was a book about a relationship between a teacher and a kid. However, everything changed for me after chapter 1. When I finished chapter 1 I knew that this book was going to be so devastating and yet so powerful.

As a person that has always had high respects for teachers, I felt a connection right away. The writing was fantastic and the author writes these set of characters so beautifully. Throughout the novel you feel this sympathy for the characters and feel like you know them. While reading this book I felt like I was watching a movie, the words just flew by and I couldn’t stop.

I really loved Yuri’s character because I learned a lot from his resilience. One of the most memorable characters in my opinion. Ms. Topper was also one of my favorite characters because she just fit that image of all the wonderful English teachers I had over the years.

Moreover, what I liked most about this book was the historical background that it contained. As mentioned I came into this book without any expectations so I was happy that the author included some history to the story and it made the story even more enjoyable. If you didn’t know before I love learning history so that was a high for me.

To continue, one of my favorite things to do when reading is finding the definition of the book title inside the pages. This is what kept me going in this novel. The title, The Secrets of Clouds, was just so interesting and fascinating that I just had to keep on reading to find what it meant. And it didn’t disappoint when I found out. It made the book even more popping, if you know what I mean.

All in all, if you want a book that will move you to the core and will make you think about life in a different way please pick this one up when it comes out. I promise you that this book will rock you and take you on a hell of a ride. But also make sure to have some tissues near you because this one is super sad.

Thanks Berkley Publishing for sending me this one. I’m so grateful.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I liked seeing how the relationship between teacher and student grew. This was a touching story.

This is a story of devotion and love between a teacher and her young student. Maggies leaves a job she hates and jumps head first into a job she was meant to do - teaching English to middle schoolers. Forging a love of reading and writing in these kids is her goal but what she learns is love, compassion and profound knowledge from the one boy who is set apart from the class. Maggie agrees to tutor Yuri who suffers from a serious heart ailment and can't attend school or even be outside of his house for long. His parents give him total love, support and devotion but what he really needs is a connection to kids his own age. The result is a total tearjerker in the style of Jodi Picoult. Maggie's world and that of her class are broadened by a boy whose world is defined but whose heart is very large. There is also a romance and Maggie gets her life priorities in order. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

The lives of Katya, Sasha, and Yuri intersect with Maggie, a devoted English teacher, when Maggie provides homeschooling to Yuri twice a week. Maggie looks for the spark in her students and introduces Yuri to the book "Shoeless Joe Jackson" as a way to inspire him. The year Maggie spends teaching Yuri creates a chain of events that causes changes not only in Yuri but in his family and in Maggie.
I enjoyed reading this book but thought the ending was forced when compared to the rest of the book.

Well written, touching story. The reader feels like they are part of the story and it is easy to get invested in the characters and their struggles. Katya is such an interesting character; I felt a real kinship for her, despite the fact that I have never done ballet or lived in an Eastern Bloc country. As a mother and an educator, I thought that both of those elements were thoughtfully done.

A rising ballerina and a graduate student fall in love in Kiev. After they move to the United States and have a son, he has a rare disease that changes them forever. Well written, great characters.

The Secret of Clouds is such a wonderful novel that I have recommended it for book clubs of several different demographics. Richman creates fully developed characters who the reader can easily identify with, regardless of their age, gender identity, or hometown. To relate to these characters, all you need is humanity. A wonderful read.

Wonderful book, loved the story. Brilliant characters. sometimes we find that others give us strength to face obstacles

In 1986 a young couple Sasha and Katya are living in Kiev when the Chernobyl accident happened. Sasha was a student and his wife was a ballerina. They left their home and immigrated to America. They have a son in America, Yuri and his heart has a malformation and he needs surgery but it is very risky. His health is declining. Maggie a young teacher is asked by her principal to tutor Yuri at his home. A friendship develops between Maggie and Yuri and his family. At the end of the book, I felt like Yuri became the teacher and Maggie the student. Great book. Touching and thought-provoking.

I was hoping to enjoy this more, given so many high ratings on Goodreads, but while there were some things I liked about it, it fell short of being a story that will be memorable for me. Maggie Topper is a teacher charged with tutoring an eleven year old boy, Yuri, who has a heart condition that keeps him from attending school. They develop a relationship that affects both of them in a positive way. My emotions were certainly touched at times, but other times, it felt melodramatic. I loved some of the characters, especially Yuri and his parents Sasha and Katya who immigrated from Kiev just before Yuri is born, but mostly the characters were just too goody-goody, especially Maggie. There are two story lines. Yuri and his family’s story was the one that I wanted to keep reading about. Maggie’s romance story was pretty mundane and predictable. I’m a baseball fan, so Yuri’s love of baseball and the bond he shares with his father and his friend Finn was lovely to see, but Maggie trying to connect with Yuri over baseball was commendable but felt forced. The writing was simplistic and the dialogue ho hum. I did love the writing assignments Maggie gives to her students and reading them was a highlight of the book for me. While I was surprised at one thing that happens, for the most part it was predictable. I have to admit that overall it ended up being a good reprieve from some other tough books I’ve read recently, but not one that I loved. There’s pretty much a thing that didn’t work for me for every one that did, so right down the middle- 3 stars.

This was the December read with Diane and Esil, and we always have a good discussion. You’ll have to read their reviews to see if we felt the same.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Berkeley through NetGalley.

This was one of those books where so much was happening and all of it was unrelated--except that it was all happening in the life of one young teacher whose modest life is forever altered by one student who has a broken heart. The book felt very realistic in that way, dramatized, of course, but overall very real, and it really made me think about each human life being a small cog in the giant machine of existence. I realize that sounds philosophical, but that is the tone of this beautiful story: the philosophy and drama of of everyday living.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my truthful review.
With that in mind, I will say that I think the title change was a good idea; The Secret of Clouds feels much less pigeon-holing to the story than The Family Cloud.