Just Under the Clouds, Melissa Sarno
Just Under the Clouds, Melissa Sarno
List: $15.00 | Sale: $10.50
Club: $7.50

Just Under the Clouds

Author: Melissa Sarno

Narrator: Monika Felice Smith

Unabridged: 5 hr 3 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/05/2018


Synopsis

Can you still have a home if you don't have a house? In the spirit of The Truth About Jellyfish and Fish in a Tree comes a stunning debut about a family struggling to find something lasting when everything feels so fleeting.

Always think in threes and you'll never fall, Cora's father told her when she was a little girl. Two feet, one hand. Two hands, one foot. That was all Cora needed to know to climb the trees of Brooklyn.

But now Cora is a middle schooler, a big sister, and homeless. Her mother is trying to hold the family together after her father's death, and Cora must look after her sister, Adare, who's just different, their mother insists. Quick to smile, Adare hates wearing shoes, rarely speaks, and appears untroubled by the question Cora can't help but ask: How will she find a place to call home?

After their room at the shelter is ransacked, Cora's mother looks to an old friend for help, and Cora finally finds what she has been looking for: Ailanthus altissima, the "tree of heaven," which can grow in even the worst conditions. It sets her on a path to discover a deeper truth about where she really belongs.

Just Under the Clouds will take root in your heart and blossom long after you've turned the last page.

"[A] heartbreaking yet hopeful story of a family searching for a place to belong." --Publishers Weekly

"[A] thought provoking debut about the meaning of home and the importance of family."--Horn Book Magazine

About The Author

Melissa Sarno is a freelance writer and editor with an MFA in screenwriting. She writes about middle-grade books for Barnes & Noble's BNkids blog and edits YA and children's book reviews for Cleaver magazine. Read more about her at melissasarno.com. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @melissasarno.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Cindy on January 21, 2018

I just finished reading @melissasarno's debut, JUST UNDER THE CLOUDS. It was such a sweet middle-grade contemporary, filled with a luscious sense of place and a narrator whose wistful, compelling voice will stay with me for a while. I particularly love the details in this book—of the trees that Cora......more

Goodreads review by Tatiana on September 23, 2018

Just Under the Clouds is all about belonging. Unfortunately, I felt the narrative was lost itself. At first, the prose gets you: its windiness, its chime and ting. Lovely. And the story is designed to pull you in as well. Seventh-grader Cora, her sister Adare (who was denied oxygen at birth), and th......more

Goodreads review by Darla on May 29, 2018

A big thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for making a digital ARC available of this book. The cover itself says much about the book. Cora is the older sister and the narrator. She often mentions trying to match hands and feet with younger sister Adare. This middle grade novel deals with both homelessn......more

Goodreads review by Amanda on February 08, 2018

I loved this sweet story about what home means and loving the people you're given.......more

Goodreads review by Norman on May 13, 2019

To be honest, this was a pretty good book, but I just don't know why I had a two-month gap in between reading the book LOL.......more


Quotes

"[R]ich and evocative . . . . A moving book about an all-too-common childhood experience, which is fairly uncommon in children's literature." --Booklist

"Troubling, affecting, and ultimately uplifting, from a promising debut novelist."--Kirkus Reviews

"[A] thought provoking debut about the meaning of home and the importance of family."--Horn Book Magazine

"This is a beautiful book. I loved Cora who was so warm and real. I cried over her hard life, but was thrilled over her choices. I wanted her to succeed; I wanted her to be happy. The ending of this book was wonderful; I'll never forget it." -Patricia Reilly Giff, author of Eleven

"This beautiful novel grabbed me from page one and never let go. Simply put, I loved this book. Cora and Adare wormed their way into my heart. I rooted for them, I ached for them. An incredible debut novel. I'm already a Sarno fan and can't wait to see what she does next." -Susin Nielsen, author of We Are All Made of Molecules