Who Owns the Clouds?

by Mario Brassard, Gérard DuBois (Illustrator)

Overview

A powerful and visually arresting fictional memoir of trauma, memory and hope in the aftermath of war, for readers 12 and up. For fans of Maus.

Even though Mila is no longer a child, she is overcome by memories — memories of a childhood halfway between reality and dreaming, and not knowing which is which.
 
In her dreams, Mila and her family leave their bombed village to stand in line for weeks on end, suitcases in hand, hoping to move on to better lives. But the memories of her uncle’s disappearance, and the approach of looming clouds, keep blurring the lines between past and present, real and unreal. How can Mila move forward? Perhaps if the clouds can remind her of where she’s from, they can also show her where to go . . .
 
Winner of a Governor General’s Award, Canada’s most prestigious literary prize, and the Bologna Ragazzi Award, this stunningly evocative book about experience, trauma and healing will stay with readers from beginning to end.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781774880227
Publisher:	Tundra
Publication date:	01/10/2023
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	100
Sales rank:	907,900
Lexile:	770L (what's this?)
File size:	42 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

MARIO BRASSARD received a bachelor’s degree in French Studies from the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières. He has published four children’s novels in French, including La saison des pluies (2011), which was awarded the TD Prize for Canadian Literature for Children, nominated for the Governor General’s Award and selected for the IBBY 2012 Honor List and the White Ravens; Quand hurle la nuit (2015), a finalist for the Governor General’s Award, and Ferdinand F., 81 ans, chenille (2018), which won the Governor General’s Award. Who Owns the Clouds? is his first illustrated work.

GÉRARD DUBOIS studied graphic design at the École Supérieure des Arts Estienne in Paris before moving to Montreal in 1991. His 2015 children’s book Enfantillages received a Special Mention from the BolognaRagazzi. His illustration work has appeared in the New York Times (in weekly column “Gray Matter”), the Wall Street Journal, Time (in Nancy Gibbs' ongoing column), GQ, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, the Washington Post, Le Monde, The Guardian, Entertainment Weekly, Harper’s, The Atlantic and others, as well multiple Folio Society editions, and he has received multiple awards from the Society of Illustrators. His art has been exhibited in galleries around the world. In 2018, Canada Post released a stamp with his art as part of the Great Canadian Illustrators series. He currently teaches at the Université du Quèbec.

Editorial Reviews

12/19/2022

A fictional adult protagonist looks back on a period in her childhood spent fleeing a war-torn country in this speculative, ambient graphic novel, which thoughtfully unravels themes of grief, healing, and memory. Using spare text that occasionally addresses the reader directly (“You have no idea how often we all dreamed of fresh white sheets”), French author Brassard blends nine-year-old Mila’s lived experiences with her adult recollections. The protagonist recalls being “so tired in the days before we left,” and settling down for long periods of sleep that manifested visions of standing in a seemingly endless, unspecified queue that trudges toward an arms factory guarded by furious soldiers. Upon waking, Mila and her family flee their village, which is being ravaged by bombs, to wait in a queue similar to that of her dreams. Linocut-style b&w illustrations by DuBois include accents of blue and red. The art’s resemblance to both old photographs and classic children’s book illustrations—Mila’s cat stares longingly out a balcony window while autumnal colored leaves blow gracefully by—evoke the haziness of childhood memories and how past remembrances often straddle a delicate line between dreams and waking. Ages 12–up. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

A Globe & Mail Best Book of 2023

PRAISE FOR Who Owns the Clouds?:

"A fictional adult protagonist looks back on a period in her childhood spent fleeing a war-torn country in this speculative, ambient graphic novel, which thoughtfully unravels themes of grief, healing, and memory." —Publishers Weekly

"The stark, absorbing illustrations evoke a mid-20th-century European setting and capture the introspective narrative with grace. Rendered largely in sepia tones aptly reminiscent of old photos, this graphic novel measures the weight of memories. . . . A heartfelt and vivid portrait of war trauma." —Kirkus Reviews

"[A] trauma narrative, a complex coming-of-age story, and testimony to the lasting human cost of armed conflict and forced displacement. . . . A book for junior and adult readers, Who Owns the Clouds? gives voice to the unspeakable. And, when the clouds part, a view to hope." —Montreal Review of Books

"Those who survive relocation from war-torn regions are, as the narrator of Who Owns the Clouds? puts it, 'different from other people.' . . . [T]he degree of that difference is etched with matchless precision and grace." —Shelf Awareness

"[A] story of trauma, hope, and resilience. . . . Who Owns the Clouds? will help readers of any age better understand the effects living through war and being forced to leave can have throughout someone’s life." —CM: Canadian Review of Materials

"Haunting. . . . Who Owns the Clouds? is a deeply empathic story depicting the innocent people whose lives are affected by the bitterness of war. Its thought-provoking messages could generate discussions for children on the realities of those displaced by conflict." —Young Adulting

"Mario Brassard’s short yet incredibly powerful portrait of war trauma subtly translates its horrors and the profound, long-lasting effect on people, especially when experienced in youth." —Global Literature In Libraries Initiative

From the Publisher

2022-12-24
A woman looks back on her harrowing refugee experience.

Mila has a photo Papa took of her a few hours before they were forced to leave home. She doesn’t recognize the 9-year-old she sees in the picture, a somber, worried girl in a dark dress with short lace-up boots. In the days before they fled an unnamed country, Mila often slept, dissociating from the bombs filling the sky with smoke. Every night she dreamed about waiting in a never-ending line with her family while holding onto a suitcase. It wasn’t just Mila who was wondering what awaited them on the other side. The line was all anyone in her village talked about. “The clouds that crept closer and closer, adrift above our heads, clouds that seemed to come from nowhere…were they coming from the burning houses of my friends?” Mila pondered solemnly as the bombing escalated. That was when she and her family joined the line to seek refuge from their war-torn homeland. Twenty-five years later, although outwardly she may seem to fit in, she observes, “I know I’m different from other people.” The stark, absorbing illustrations evoke a mid-20th-century European setting and capture the introspective narrative with grace. Rendered largely in sepia tones aptly reminiscent of old photos, this graphic novel measures the weight of memories. The sparse pops of red and blue emphasize meaningful visual cues threaded through the work.

A heartfelt and vivid portrait of war trauma. (Graphic fiction. 13-adult)

Kirkus Reviews