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    Cloud and Wallfish
    Unavailable
    Cloud and Wallfish
    Unavailable
    Cloud and Wallfish
    Audiobook7 hours

    Cloud and Wallfish

    Written by Anne Nesbet

    Narrated by Will Ropp

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateOct 4, 2016
    ISBN9781522656128
    Unavailable
    Cloud and Wallfish
    Author

    Anne Nesbet

    Anne Nesbet teaches classes on silent films and Russian novels at UC Berkeley. The author of The Cabinet of Earths and A Box of Gargoyles, she lives near San Francisco with her husband, three daughters, and one irrepressible dog.

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    Reviews for Cloud and Wallfish

    4/5

    29 ratings6 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Take one boy named Noah and give him a stutter so he is an outsider. then turn his world upside down. That is what Anne Nesbet, the author has done to her character Noah Keller. Noah leaves his fifth-grade classroom and finds his mom and dad in a rental car. It is on the ride that they explain to him that his mom has the opportunity of a lifetime. She is working on her dissertation about schools and children with problems like her son's. Noah learns that all of the German lessons he has been taking had a purpose. They will be flying into East Berlin. Noah has a new name and new rules. He is now known as Jonah Brown. He can't do anything that will bring attention to himself or his parents. He must not question anything because the walls have bugs. He isn't allowed to go to school even though he has taken their test. He meets a girl in his apartment building named Claudia. Because of his stutter, he ends up calling her Cloud-Claudia. She names him Wallfish. What happens when they are caught up in something that they were not a part of. How will the secret he knows about Claudia affect their friendship?Because I'm an adult and remember the fall of the Berlin Wall, this book was so important for me to read. I have always been fascinated by this topic. My father was stationed in Berlin when he was in the Army. This is such an important piece of history that unfortunately isn't really taught in schools. I do my best to at least introduce it to my sixth graders to the topic. I want them to start their own research on such an important topic. I am impressed with the way the author handled the topic. The reader is right there and can feel the strain the people living on the East side of the wall must have felt, especially if they didn't agree with the politics at the time. This is a book I will definitely promote to my students. I had an extra copy so I passed it along to my granddaughter who had picked it up to look at. Thank you Anne Nesbet for creating a perfect book at the perfect time.
    • 3/5
      Narrated by Will Ropp. Noah's parents suddenly announce that the family is moving to East Germany for six months so his mother can pursue her PhD work with disabled children. Oddly, Noah's name has be changed to Jonah, his birthdate revised, and his parents pack along a photo album of unfamiliar photos that will serve as their "family history," which they rehearse Noah/Jonah on. In Germany, Noah/Jonah is lonely and bored. He has no friends and because he stutters, German officials are unable to place him in a school that can accommodate his "defect." Eventually he meets Claudia, a girl his age who lives below their apartment with a "mean" grandmother. They enjoy spending time together until the suspicious grandmother worries about the Americans' influence on Claudia. Separated, Noah and Claudia communicate by taps through walls and posting handmade art for each other. There is also something odd about the supposed death of Claudia's parents in a car accident. The story takes place in 1989, on the verge of the falling of the Berlin Wall. There is a rising feeling of unrest and borders are becoming looser. "Secret File" chapters provide readers with factual background about the history taking place while Noah is there. Ropp's voice is youthful and convincingly expresses Noah's bewilderment and frustration about the state of things in East Germany. The only part I had trouble with was the opening chapter when Noah's parents just whisk him out of school on the way to the airport, packed and ready to go to Germany. I didn't buy it that they could not make Noah aware of their plans and it all seemed so hush-hush suspicious that wasn't borne out in the rest of the book.
    • 4/5
      A fascinating story to me as I know Berlin well and visited the city in the 1980s when the wall was standing, including a trip to the gray East Berlin via Friedrichstrasse and then was there again in the winter of 1989 and again in 2001, 2005, 2014... so much history in this city. My favorite German city, I believe. I am not sure how young readers will perceive the story, they might need more historical information than the paragraphs at each chapter's end give. On the other hand they might be right there with Noah and live in this science fiction world (from an American child's perspective). Everyone spying on everyone, what a concept! I enjoyed the family's trip to Hungary and Noah's accidental participation in one of the protest marches. Noah's suspicion that his parents might have a different identity is neither confirmed nor denied in the end. This was a bit disappointing to me. The plot could be tightened in some places. Noah's loneliness and his friend Cloud's despair are captured very well; I loved their ways of communicating via puzzles, secret maps and drawings. Very creative and appropriate for the East Berlin environment at the time.
    • 4/5
      One day, out of the blue, Noah's parents pick him up at school. They throw away his backpack and his math homework and anything else that identifies him as Noah Keller. They tell him that his name is Jonah Brown, that he's six months younger than he though he was, and then the family gets on a plane headed for East Germany. While they travel, Noah's parents give him a set of rules, things like Don't forget that they are always listening and Smile and be polite and Don't call attention to yourself. In East Berlin, where Noah/Jonah's mother is ostensibly doing research on children with speech impediments (like Noah himself), it's true that they do seem to be always watching or listening. It's a lonely time for Noah, until he meets another displaced child, Claudia (Cloud), who is staying with her grandmother in the same apartment building where Noah's family lives. The longer Noah stays in East Germany, the more questions he has, but of course he can't ask those questions, because of the Rules. When Noah and Cloud find themselves in a dangerous situation, what will become of them -- and their families?I found this book fascinating, though I'm not sure if child readers would share my interest. I remember (though my memory is a little hazy) the times Noah is describing, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall (so now events in my life are the stuff of historical fiction - hmpf), which does add to my personal interest in the story. It's not quite high-stakes enough to grab the attention of kids looking for spy thrillers, though it does have a certain amount of intrigue, so readers of historical fiction are probably this book's best audience. The writing and characters are strong, though the plot could be tightened up just a bit in my opinion. Still, for readers who do enjoy historical fiction, this is a nice option, set in a time not featured in many children's novels.
    • 5/5
      In the year just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Noah's family suddenly moves to East Germany so his mother can work on her thesis. But why have they changed their names, and made up a story about where they came from? Noah, now Jonah, is not allowed to attend school due to a severe stutter. Finally he meets a lonely girl who lives in his building. Following a tragedy, as she seems to sometimes lose her grip on reality, they find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.
    • 3/5
      Though I loved the characters of Cloud and Wallfish and their loyal friendship, I found Wallfish's parents unrealistic in the ways they spoke to their son and kept so many secrets from him. I understand the author was trying to reveal that period in history around the Berlin Wall, but I wish she'd chosen a different way to write the story, focused more on the kids' friendship than all the "facts" between chapters.