Cloud and Wallfish, Anne Nesbet
Cloud and Wallfish, Anne Nesbet
2 Rating(s)
List: $35.99 | Sale: $25.20
Club: $17.99

Cloud and Wallfish

Author: Anne Nesbet

Narrator: Will Ropp

Unabridged: 6 hr 51 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Published: 10/04/2016


Synopsis

Slip behind the Iron Curtain into a world of smoke, secrets, and lies in this stunning novel where someone is always listening and nothing is as it seems.Noah Keller has a pretty normal life, until one wild afternoon when his parents pick him up from school and head straight for the airport, telling him on the ride that his name isn’t really Noah and he didn’t really just turn eleven in March. And he can’t even ask them why—not because of his Astonishing Stutter, but because asking questions is against the newly instated rules. (Rule Number Two: Don’t talk about serious things indoors, because Rule Number One: They will always be listening). As Noah—now “Jonah Brown”—and his parents head behind the Iron Curtain into East Berlin, the rules and secrets begin to pile up so quickly that he can hardly keep track of the questions bubbling up inside him: Who, exactly, is listening—and why? When did his mother become fluent in so many languages? And what really happened to the parents of his only friend, Cloud-Claudia, the lonely girl who lives downstairs? In an intricately plotted novel full of espionage and intrigue, friendship and family, Anne Nesbet cracks history wide open and gets right to the heart of what it feels like to be an outsider in a world that’s impossible to understand.

About Anne Nesbet

Anne Nesbet is the author of the middle-grade novels Cloud and Wallfish, The Cabinet of Earths, A Box of Gargoyles, and The Wrinkled Crown. Her books have received starred reviews and have been selected for the Indie Next List, Chicago Public Library’s Best of the Best list, the Bank Street College Best Children’s Books of the Year list, and the American Library Association Notables list. An associate professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Anne Nesbet lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay Area.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Hilary on May 07, 2020

4.5 stars. We really enjoyed this story of friendship and life in East Berlin shortly before the wall coming down. Eleven year old Noah has a stutter, he also has a photographic memory and a resilient character. Being understood hasn't been easy for Noah and being thrust into East German life with a......more

Goodreads review by Betsy on September 26, 2016

Historical fiction is boring. Right? That’s the common wisdom on the matter, certainly. Take two characters (interesting), give them a problem (interesting), and set them in the past (BOOOOOORING!). And to be fair, there are a LOT of dull-as-dishwater works of historical fiction out there. Books whe......more

Goodreads review by Lisa on May 05, 2020

4-1/2 stars I did stay up later than I’d wanted in order to finish it. It was a hard book to put down and an easy one to pick up to read. I highly and equally recommend this book for boys and for girls. I think it’s an especially good story for readers ages 9-11, but I think the story can be enjoyed......more

Goodreads review by Monica on December 14, 2016

My starred Hornbook review here. -------- Thinking a lot about this one. Very interesting structure. Reviewed for Horn Book. ETA (9/27/16) The more I read others on this one and discuss it the more impressed I am. So much so that I'm adding it to my Newbery Contender list. Here are a few thoughts I've......more

Goodreads review by Stephanie on October 03, 2016

This book is utterly BRILLIANT. It's exhilaratingly smart and fun, a wild ride from the very beginning, when 11-year-old Noah is picked up from school in Virginia by his parents only to be told his name isn't really Noah, he isn't really 11 after all, and they're heading to East Berlin (this is set......more