the cloudmakers

Far out at sea, where the tiny workers are almost too small to find, the cloudmakers set off in their little boats. Their task is to gather cups of clean seawater and feed their curious cloud-making machine. A little poof sends fluffy clouds on their way, carrying rain and snow toward mountains, meadows, rivers and farms.

But the cloudmakers’ work matters beyond the waves. Without water, rivers would not flow as they should, flowers would not bloom, and familiar gifts—from grain for daily bread to cotton for soft pillows—would be harder to come by. As the cloudmakers tend their busy task, their story invites young readers to notice how much life depends on water, and why plastic and rubbish belong nowhere in the rivers and seas we share.

With gentle wonder, tiny seaside bustle and rhyming lines made for reading aloud, the cloudmakers offers preschoolers a playful way to think about water and caring for nature.