I didn’t read the description when I requested an advanced copy of this new picture book on Netgalley. The cover drew me in. A yellow rain jacket. Reflections. Puddles. Trees. Fish. A moody girl with her head full of clouds. How could I, a girl from rainy Vancouver, possibly resist these elements? But from the opening lines and pictures, a rarer element took me by surprise.

Head Full of Clouds is rich in surrealism. While other children’s books might have touches of surreal language and art, this title is overtly surrealist in form and content. If you’ve experienced Salvador Dali’s artwork or the poetry of Andre Breton, you’ve already had some strong doses of this genre and can likely detect it instantly. It’s a great one for children, given that they tend to think subconsciously. With the prefrontal cortex not fully developed, children regularly escape the confines of a strict perception of reality.

But other genres do this too. Isn’t surrealism just a form of fantasy and imagination? Arguably, no.

The surreal is different from the fantastical, the magical, or the imaginary. It is always a surprise, but not an intrusive one that preoccupies the mind. Rather, it is the kind of surprise that has been there all along, waiting to be recognized. Plain as day. Natural. Unselfconscious. Subconscious. Nearer to the spiritual than anything else, the surreal relinquishes and rejuvenates perception so that the unknown seems familiar and the familiar seems unknown. It is the nearest place of interest and attention. Nothing is taken for granted or expected. In this way, it is also near to gratitude and the purest forms of realization.

So, how does one review a surrealist book for children? You don’t. You simply remain in a surrealist attitude and muse about things. The author (Joanne Schwartz) uses a second person point of view. Neither immediate nor distant. Both familiar and unfamiliar. A perfect narrative structure for surrealism. The illustrator (Afsaneh Sanei) references Alice in Wonderland in one spread with a long dining table and a smart looking hare. Fish swim in the sky as dream reality adjusts to day reality. Birds replace them. Order is ruptured and restored continually throughout the story, but firmly set back in place with a sense of friendship and shared reality at the end. Exquisitely done.

I really enjoyed reading this storybook to my son. It made me feel nostalgic in a way that my favorite poems make me feel. It honestly reminded me of a poem. I could feel the feelings being described perfectly. I smiled the whole time reading it. It’s a perfect book about childhood. The art was gorgeous as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an ARC of this beautiful, enchanting storybook.

This is a quirky little tale of how a girl has a unique way of seeing the world around her. Her brain is fast and sees the whimsy others might not. And sometimes her brain slows down and helps her notice things that make the world special. The illustrations are vibrant and make the magic of this story truly stand out!

This is about a girl going about her day after waking up from a dream. It has bright, beautiful pictures, but not much of a plot.