This is a cute, wordless story story about Matias, who is celebrating his birthday. There's a party with friends, a pinata, lots of playful shenanigans, and of course, cake. After the guests leave, Matias opens his presents, and when he gets to the last one, it has a magical cloud inside! I'm pretty sure the little girl that gave him the gift has a crush on him, she also gave him a kiss on the cheek when she gave him her gift! You go, little girl! Anyway, Matias and his dog have lots of imaginative play with the cloud for the rest of the day, finally falling asleep on it when evening comes. The illustrations are sweet, with a childish quality to them, and the story has lots of room for little ones to make up their own stories about what's going on.

#MatiasandtheCloud #NetGalley

This book was sweet, but it didn't quite hit the mark in my opinion. It is a wordless picture book/graphic novel, that tells the story of Matias's birthday. There were several opportunities within the book to further explore feelings and taking responsibility for your actions and the book instead just jumped onto the next vignette. The characters are very white, the most diversity you get is a kid with glasses. The title also doesn't really seem to fit the story. The cloud appears at the end of the story, more than half of the story does not even have a cloud. I'm not quite sure where the book was trying to go. It may have been better with words or it may have been better with a title that fit more correctly. I do think that the author/illustrator has potential for better future work.

Matias and his cloud is a joyful picture book, both inventive and full of fun. The calm pastel palette is charming and the wordless element provides a lovely hook for emerging storytellers.

My five year old daughter has grown in confidence, adding new phrases and details with each reading. We have particularly enjoyed describing the little dog’s antics and noticing the expressions and reactions of the different characters.

Thank you for allowing us to read and review the e-copy.

I received an electronic ARC from Clarion Books through NetGalley.
Palomera lets the art speak in this wordless graphic novel for younger readers. Readers see this whole story take place through the illustrations and can flesh out the story with their imagination. Matias wakes up to dog kisses and celebrations for his birthday. Then comes the party that captures typical types of guests and fun. Again, readers will connect to many pieces of this day's celebration. After the party, Matias opens more gifts and unwraps a cloud. He and his dog enjoy playing with it in a wide variety of ways. I love that the day ends with the three curled up together to sleep.
A terrific book for young readers to share what is happening in the story. They need to search the art for context clues and then use their own creative minds to flesh out what Palomera has shared.

Matias and the Cloud is a wonderful picture book that would be a fabulous addition to any non reader or early reader's library. Since there is no words in this book, even those who do not yet read would feel like they were able to "read" this book without missing anything.

This book would be wonderful to have in a personal library or in a school library, to cater to those at all reading levels. I loved the illustrations, and Matias was a super cute kid that most other kids would be able to relate to and would love.

Thank you to the author, illustrator, publisher and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Imagination and beautiful illustrations show a child’s birthday adventure in graphic novel panels. A boy receives a cloud for his birthday and he embarks on an adventure with his puppy. What wonderful adventures await!

Matias and the Cloud is a picture book with no words. I originally picked up this title because I was hoping that there would be information about clouds, but that is not what this book is. It is a book about a boy who gets a cloud as a present on his birthday. He and his dog play with the cloud. This book would be great to use with children to get them to tell the story aloud using their imagination and creativity.

Great art and always interested in wordless picture books. Not for my library because representation of children is limited. Still very funny and cute.

This was an interesting, wordless, picture book. I enjoyed how imaginative Matias and his dog got with the cloud; that cloud had so many different options. Being a wordless book it had fantastic illustrations.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as a lifelong dog lover. The magic and the whimsy of it made it a great read for me. I think this will be an excellent book for young readers. I will certainly recommend it!

My five-year-old and I read this one together. I don't remember the last time we had a wordless book. She had fun seeing the action unfold in the cute illustrations. She is very jealous that Matias had a cloud and she is already making plans to lasso her own and turn it into a bed for herself. Very cute book for young children!

A sweet story about a boy, his dog and his cloud. With no words and expressive illustrations, this is a great starter graphic novel!

A beautiful wordless picture book - I love that this book tells its own story and that children can make it their own. The detailed illustrations show a whole range of emotion and events that will keep the reader finding new things each time they look.

This is a beautiful, imaginative book for young readers. Matais wakes up to an extraordinary day, his birthday, receiving dog kisses and then breakfast in bed. Downstairs, his friends and family are gathered for a surprise party. After a busy backyard party featuring a pinata, chocolate cake, and at least one mean girl, guests leave and it's time for Matais and his dog buddy to open presents. The last present is a cloud, and the pair have fun turning it into creative objects such as a beard, a balloon., and a water fountain. Then it's time for bed, and while the dreaming boy and dog sleep on a cloud mattress, other clouds hover outside. This worldless, early graphic novel is a delight - the illustrations seem to come alive and to have motion. The endpapers feature pictures of clouds and Matais and his buddy watching and engaging with them, This would be a good book to introduce cloud watching as creative play. Highly recommended for ages 3-7.

We must be entering a golden age for wordless picture books. In October, Anthony and the Gargoyle by Jo Ellen Bogart hit shelves and warmed the hearts of readers everywhere. And anyone who missed Aaron Becker’s wordless Journey trilogy would be doing themselves a great disservice by not acquiring it immediately. Now, we have this little gem due to be released on February 22nd of next year by Clarion Books. Talk about an embarrassment of riches.

Matias and the Cloud opens on the morning of Matias’s birthday. His family throws him a big party to celebrate his special day, with cake and a piñata and presents stacked high just waiting to be unwrapped. Once the guests have left and all but one of the presents have been unwrapped, Matias and his dog discover something quite spectacular in the last gift: a magic cloud.

This enchanted cloud is no ordinary fluffnugget of condensed vapor. On the contrary, this cloud can float and bounce and do all sorts of neat things. What will Matias and his dog get up to with their new friend? You’ll have to get it yourself to find out.

Matias and the Cloud is due to be released by Clarion Books on February 22nd, 2022 and is available to preorder wherever books are sold.

This review also appears on my blog The Voracious Bibliophile at https://thevoraciousbibliophile.com/2021/11/07/all-aboard-the-arc-matias-and-the-cloud-by-jorge-g-palomera-and-ana-sanfelippo-illustrator/.

A short and sweet wordless picture book about a boy who receives a cloud as birthday present. Matias and his dog creatively play with the cloud, even sleeping on it. Would be engaging for young children, and the bright artwork would keep their attention. Recommended for picture book collections that serve young children.

ARC Review:

This simple wordless graphic novel follows a young boy on his birthday from the moment he wakes up until he closes his eyes to sleep. His party is loads of fun and he gets lots of wonderful gifts, but the best of all is his very own cloud. The boy and his dog drink rainwater, float, make beards out of cloud stuff, and more. The story is very charming and cute, but all of the characters look the same and there isn't a lot of diversity.

This is a lovely wordless graphic novel. The art is just beautiful, and while I did wonder when the could was coming into play- the wait was well worth. I love that this book will encourage creativity and imagination. If you look closely, there is a lot of clever humor in these pictures!

My only issue is that I wish there was a bit more diversity- there were a lot of kids at the birthday party, and I felt like their depictions as all one tone was a missed opportunity.

Argentine author Palomera has delivered a colorful, inventive, and charming wordless picture book here, about a young boy who has a fabulous birthday, and who gets down to the last of his presents and discovers that someone has sent him a cloud! Naturally he wants to play with this, and in much the same way as a kid who abandons the present and turns the box into a multipurpose toy, Matias does the same thing, but in this case actually with the present, turning the cloud into several fun toys, including a beard and bushy eyebrows, and a bed for his dog.

The cloud doesn't appear until about two-thirds the way through the story, but it's fun when it does, and Matias proves himself to be a clever kid. I can imagine an adult reading this with their own child and inventing other ways to enjoy a cloud, had we one available. I commend this as a fun and accessible story which will stimulate all imaginations.

I thought the summary for this book sounded interesting, but that is where the interesting stopped. A wordless picture book, this story feels like it has too much art. It is divided into so many panels that it gets hard to follow, and it feels like kids will struggle to keep up. The cloud mentioned in the title also takes too long to surface, and I struggled to even get to that point. Fine for older readers who want to decipher the art, but not for smaller children.