As a parent, I would have loved reading this book with my kids when they were younger. The book addresses bullying, staying on your grounds, fighting for what you believe, and encouraging bystanders to stand with the victim instead of the aggressor. I also enjoy looking at the pictures, it shows how thoughtful the author was in addressing diversity, without mentioning it in the story. It will be a great Christmas gift for children.

Abilene’s cloudy journey, A tale of a cloud and courage is a great book for 1st and 2nd graders that teachers/parents can use to cover a variety of subject areas. I enjoy how the story covers many ou sound digraph words. It’s a great way children can see how to apply those words after reviewing the ou sounds. The book also has many great vocabulary words to lengthen children’s language skills. In previous years in the classroom, children daily reviewed the weather chart, this book is a great tool to help children expand their meteorology skills. The book uses different types of clouds as a metaphor to describe emotions and characteristics in people. And as a bonus, the story deals with bullying. It encourages the victim to stand up for self and the bystanders to support the person who is being victimized. Great tool for teachers/parents to use to introduce a discussion about what to do when you are dealing with an inappropriate social setting.

Dr. Ferdie Cadet’s entrance into the children’s book genre with Abilene is a truly welcome addition. Her ability to seamlessly incorporate multiple educational messages for children throughout her first installment is first class. Cheers to many more!

There are so many lessons to take away from “Abilene’s cloudy journey, A tale of a cloud and courage.” A great read that will teach children the importance of standing up to a bully or helping someone who is being bullied. Many of us as adults can relate to the story of Abilene and I hope this book is used to teach the importance of anger management and self-esteem. If you have small children, I would highly recommend this book. Thank you, Dr. Cadet, for the story of Abilene. We look forward to more stories to come.