As someone who has always been obsessive over weather I love that I can teach my kids with this easy to understand book. They may not obsess over it like I do, but they sure will learn a thing or two!

This is a wonderful informative book for kids. It starts at clouds and ends as the hurricane. The book goes over the categories, the naming process, and so much more. It’s a bonus that it has such beautiful illustrations!

Little Cloud: The Science of a Hurricane explains the stages a cloud goes through as it progresses into a full blown hurricane. Written by meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe, the book is packed with facts paired with beautiful illustrations by Julie McLaughlin.
I read this book with my seven year old son and despite it being a lot of information for a child, the book held his interest. Great book for little learners.

Little Cloud: The Science of a Hurricane is a children's nonfiction book written by Johanna Wagstaffe and illustrated by Julie McLaughlin. It is currently scheduled for release on February 18 2020. Follow our little cloud on an adventure through the sky and learn the science behind how it transforms from a simple cumulus cloud to a full-blown hurricane. Children will enjoy finding new gems of information even after several reads, thanks to a whimsical and rich layout. The story is a comprehensive narrative about a weather system with lovely illustrations that combine storytelling with weather facts.

Little Cloud is an engaging nonfiction picturebook for a wide range of readers. I thought the story of the cloud traveling and changing as he grows is well told, and can capture the attention of younger readers that might not grasp the science information. I found that even though I thought I was well versed in hurricanes and the science, I still learned a few interesting facts about the monitoring of hurricanes. I enjoyed the artwork, and thought that McLaughlin's illustrations were wonderful and helped to focus the attention on the story and the information included. I think this book will be a hit among weather loving kids, and could be a great teaching tool in homes or classrooms when storms are in the news.

I found the idea of this book very interesting to show how a storm forms, but I found the language a bit technical and adult even for a bigger child. I believe an adult reading can better adjust for the child to understand because the graphics are fantastic and very clear.

This is a really cute little book about the science of hurricanes. It's not too heavy on the text, which is nice, and the text that's there is highlighted by playful illustrations.

If I have one complaint, it's that the hurricane's name is referred to before he's actually given a name. That could be confusing to some readers.

Other than that, though, this is a really strong non-fiction title. Hopefully kids will read it and maybe correct their parents' ignorance: "No, Dad, that's not a chemtrail. That's just a cirrus cloud."

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was cute, but the format made it hard to see how all of the “weather facts” would appear in the final book.

The illustrations were adorable and I really enjoyed them. The story itself was good, but it was a little confusing for me because Nate wanted to be powerful and hit land, but didn’t want to scare people. The “weather facts” were informative, but read like a textbook, not a children’s book.

What a cute book! Finding fun informational books about the water cycle and weather that are easy to read and understand is not always easy. I really liked the fun illustrations and the simplicity of this book and can't wait to share it with my littlest readers.

Little Cloud was a very cute yet educational book. The content was a little over my 5 year old's head but I was able to paraphrase parts so he could understand. The imagery was colorful and articulated the story very well. We enjoyed the weather facts that were included on each page. We enjoyed the build up of the story line and were anxious to see what would happen to Nate.

This would be a great book for elementary age students looking for information on this topic. I liked how there was a lot of information, and the illustrations but the page layouts sometimes felt jumbled and cluttered.

Little Cloud felt disjointed. The storybook parts of the book hold up Nate as the protagonist, which would be fine if his goal wasn't to become a hurricane. Pairing that conflicting idea of a children's tale with real-life facts about hurricanes and the destruction they cause was super confusing for my sons. They didn't know whether they were supposed to like Nate and ended up frustrated. I feel like the aspects would have blended better if a child had been the protagonist.

I love this picture book, which takes the challenging task of not only teaching children about hurricanes but also of making them less scary, and does it in a way that's sweet, colorful, cute and quite informative. The artwork is gorgeous and the little cloud is actually likeable as he travels across the ocean and gets strong enough to get a name (Nate). The book teaches kids how hurricanes form and what weakens and slows them, how and why they're named, what the categories of hurricanes are and much more, all in very simple and non-threatening spreads. The end gives more bite-sized but thorough information about hurricanes and also mentions that climate change is causing more of them, ending on a hopeful note about the importance of learning about climate change and how learning helps us make changes and improve things ("Who knows, maybe you'll help save an entire city from a hurricane some day!"). This is such a great way to convey the climate change message in a time when it sometimes seems like kids are the only ones who are scared about it and so many children's books seem determined to make them even more fearful. The book was written by a meteorologist and she talks a little about this at the end, too.

All together, this is just the perfect blend of good scientific information and fun, sweet picture book. The vivid, happy art adds to the book, too, taking a scary topic (especially for kids in hurricane prone areas) and giving them knowledge without feeling like a boring lesson and also taking away a lot of the scariness without diminishing the risks. Highly recommended.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

This book didn’t really work. Nate is a cloud that wants to be a hurricane. The author makes Nate out to be a nice friendly fellow who just wants to grow big and strong. However, this book is loaded with all kinds of science facts about hurricanes, which are more depressing, and true life. I think if they had made this book about a kid learning about hurricanes it would have worked better. The author tries to make the bad guy the good guy. And at this age level, it just does not work.

Little Cloud is a beautiful and fact-filled story about how a cloud turns in to a hurricane. The book is put together in a way that is enticing and engaging for the reader and perfectly combines story and illustration with fact. I can't wait to add this to my non-fiction collection!