Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
Hi, I am Sarah. I am fourteen years old and an avid reader; it is one of my favorite things to do. Inspired by authors’ creations of magnificent places and surprising havens built by simple letters, I aspire to be an author and, meanwhile, nurture the love to write.
Cloud Cuckoo Land is a book that, to me, fundamentally proves that stories are the thread that connects us—no matter how time or distance separates us, stories bring us together… and sometimes in the most unlikely of ways. With an imagination to rival many authors I’ve read and the writing skill to fantastically share it, Anthony Doerr has created a masterpiece. His chosen story? The tale of Aethon, a man who longs to be free of his human form to seek a glorious city in the clouds.
Set in three different timelines and three distinct settings, this book follows characters at turning points in their lives, from fifteenth-century children Anna and Omeir on opposite sides of a war, to boys Xeno and Seymour struggling to find themselves in a world that won’t accept them for who they are, to thirteen-year-old Konstance traveling through space alone.
This book is Anna reading her sister Atheon’s journey, it’s Xeno directing a group of fifth graders set to perform it five hundred years later, it’s Konstance copying the version told to her by her father, far away in space. It’s the thread that connects them all in the unlikeliest of ways.
This is a book so full of stories that each could stand on its own, but together, it spells a remarkable and spectacular tale of the human condition and the things that connect us. It’s a story for everyone, relatable, meaningful, and a celebration of books everywhere.
