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Sora and the Cloud, written and illustrated by Felicia Hoshino and translated by Akiko Hisa, follows the adventures of a little boy who falls asleep on a cloud.

What I liked:

• Hoshino’s simple, quiet style works perfectly for the story being told – no big surprise, since she is both author and illustrator here. Overall, the book reminds me much more of Japanese children’s books than ones published in the US. The use of pastel colors and soft lines, as well as the leisurely narrative pace, strike me as choices that might appeal especially to Japanese audiences.
• A bilingual text is, I think, almost necessary for this book. Not only does this choice clearly point to Japanese/Nikkei readers as one of the intended audiences, but I suspect the presentation would fall rather flat if the book was written only in English. While reading the text, I found the English version a bit slow, but the Japanese version felt exactly paced to the way the scenes unfolded. This may simply have to do with the way I distinguish between Japanese and non-Japanese artistic/literary styles based on my personal experiences, but in a sense I think this is related to the reason Miyazaki’s films are so jarring in the English dub versus the original Japanese audio.
• Did any fellow Japanese/Nikkei readers appreciate the humor in the title そらとくも?
• Hoshino is also the illustrator of A Place Where Sunflowers Grow, which I discussed here. Although Sora is a dreamlike fantasy, whereas Sunflowers is grounded in historical events, it is easy to see Hoshino’s distinctive style in both books. Since her work seems so well-suited to narrative, I’d love to see her produce a comic or graphic novel, or maybe co-produce manga with a Japanese team.

What I learned:

• According to the author’s note, Hoshino chose to make the text bilingual so she and her husband could read the book to their children in English and Japanese. This seems like a touching way for authors and artists to provide cultural heritage connections for their families and communities. In this sense, Hoshino’s mission reminds me of the origins of Thank You Very Mochi, which I discussed here.

Questions I had:

• Is this book sold in Japanese stores? How have Japanese readers responded to the story and illustrations? I noticed the Japanese translation focuses on capturing the meaning of the English text, rather than being literal, which could make this book a useful tool in certain types of language study.

Follow-up:

• I need to do another search on Hoshino to see if she has similar books out. Maybe my little cousins in Japan would like a copy…