Review - My Head in the Clouds

My Head in the Clouds
by Danielle Chaperon
illustrated by Josée Bisaillon
Date: 2019
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

Travel the world with an intrepid explorer who's adventurous, brave and just a little bit forgetful. She searches for ancient loot but loses her swimsuit! Goes to beautiful places and misplaces three suitcases! From Canada to Nepal to Egypt and beyond, our narrator circles the globe while abandoning her possessions. She even loses her mother, briefly, in the desert.

The cadence and rhyme, accented by quirky collage-style art, will propel readers along through this exciting excursion, ultimately landing on a fact page dedicated to the places you've just read about. Join us on our journey around the world.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I have to say, it's impressive when someone can translate a rhyming picture book and have it still rhyme with decent rhythm in another language!

However, I'm not sure this book really worked for me, and I can't really put my finger on why. The illustrations are wonderful: colourful, dreamy, imaginative, and fun. The idea of a girl travelling all over the world and losing things along the way is kind of interesting. But... it just didn't grab me for some reason. Not the way I expected it to, anyway.

I think my favourite part of the book is actually the page of notes at the end that go into a little more detail about some of the places the girl visits on her journey. There's also an invitation to go back and find each lost item on the page where it's mentioned. Well, I tried, but I couldn't find them all... for good reason. Courage, footing, and a mind are all kind of difficult things to draw!

This may simply be a case of personal taste. I wasn't crazy about this book... but there's no real reason why others wouldn't love it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orca Book Publishers for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 3.29 out of 5