Greg Stobbs celebrates difference, and imagination, in Cloud Boy
About Author
ReadingZone caught up with author, illustrator and street artist Greg Stobbs to find out about his new picture book, Cloud Boy, and the joy of celebrating our differences and children's imaginations.
Greg enjoys creating work that crosses fine art, street art, and children's book illustration. Cloud Boy is his first authored book. His debut picture book was Don't Ask the Dragon, by poet Lemn Sissay.
Greg has worked on a range of projects, from installations to interactive art pieces, including creating the illustrated digital backdrops for the BBC's Cbeebies Christmas Pantomime.
Interview
Greg Stobbs celebrates difference and imagination in Cloud Boy (OUP)
February 2025
Bobby finds concentrating hard; there is so much to notice and to imagine. When his imagination threatens to carry him away into the clouds, his friends and family find a way to keep his feet firmly on the ground. But perhaps there is a different way to help Bobby, one that will help them to see the world through his eyes.
ReadingZone caught up with author and illustrator Greg Stobbs to find out about his new picture book, Cloud Boy, and the joy of celebrating our differences, and children's imaginations.
Review: "Cloud Boy encourages readers to reflect on what makes everyone unique and the importance of being true to yourself."
Q&A with Greg Stobbs: "Cloud Boy gives us all the chance to recognise our differences and should encourage
discussions around what makes us ALL unique."
1. Thank you for joining ReadingZone to introduce Cloud Boy, your new picture book. Can you tell us a little about yourself?
Hi, thanks for asking! My name is Greg Stobbs, and I am the son of two children's book illustrators and authors. I tried teaching for a while, but I've always loved drawing, and imagining and coming up with stories, so when a little boy told me to "Go and be an artist", I listened! I've been a Graffiti/ Street artist and visual artist for a long time under a different secret name.
2. How did you get involved in illustration and writing children's books - and what kinds of books do you enjoy creating?
I came into Children's books after working with the Poet Lemn Sissay on a project with young refugees and children in care, and he suggested we make a book together. We had the most incredible fun, playing, creating, and making Don't ask the Dragon.
I've a terrible memory but can perfectly visualise my favourite pages from picture books that were read to me when I was little. If I can make some books that bring people together in some way, and that people carry with them in their memories until they are grown-ups, I will feel like I have done something good.
2. Where do you go for inspiration for your words and images?
I go for walks with my dog Watson, who features in Cloud Boy. Watson is also in What the Crow Saw Below, written by Robert Tregoning and illustrated by me. He will be in my next book too!
Walks are where I can think freely and let my imagination loose. My own children and young people in general give me a lot of inspiration too. Sometimes we can lose wonder a little bit as we grow up, so it's important for me to top that up by really listening to what young people have to say.
3. What happens in your new picture book, Cloud Boy? Is the finished book very different from how you first thought of the story?
Cloud Boy is about a little boy with a very vivid imagination. He is called Bobby, and he struggles to keep his feet on the ground. No matter how hard he tries to be like the people around him, he always feels different, and doesn't tend to do things in the typical way.
Quite often people like Bobby are accused of having their heads in the clouds, and that is why the story is called 'Cloud Boy'. Bobby's friends and family do their best to help him stay safe, and pay attention but it is only when they start to experience what it's like to be him that they truly understand.
The concept for Cloud Boy didn't change a great deal, but the way that it was written did. I am so lucky to have had Katie Haworth as my editor at Oxford University Press, as it feels like she can really understand what I want to say and sometimes translate that slightly with suggestions so that everybody else can follow more easily.
4. What inspired you to create this story, about a boy who thinks differently from others? Is any of it drawn from your own experiences?
In truth, I am Cloud Boy! Being like Bobby has felt quite isolating at times, and made me put on a lot of masks to try and fit in. My imagination can sometimes be a bit overwhelming and out of control, but the longer I've lived with it, the more I've learnt to appreciate it as a thing of wonder, rather than as something that separates me from everybody else, and that needs to be fixed.
In fact, I've noticed more and more people with similarly different ways of looking at the world. When writing Cloud Boy, my brilliant sister Jess suggested that I give some thought to ADHD, and I used the advance payment for the book to speak to a Psychologist, who diagnosed me. I'm told that I am the 'Combined type', and that means that I have some difficulties with paying attention to things that I don't find interesting, and that I also have a hyperactive mind.
It has been difficult at times to accept that, and I am still coming to terms with what it means. What I do now know is that there are so many other Cloud Boys and Cloud Girls out there, and I want to do my best to make them all feel like their differences are their strengths and that they should be recognised and appreciated for them. Cloud Boy asks the question, do you need to pretend, and mask and change to fit into the world, or should it be the world that changes to accept you as you are?
5. What can we learn about children's imaginations from Bobby, who starts to fly when he is wondering about the world?
That their imaginations should be encouraged rather than restricted! Children are experts in the field of Imagination and Wonder, but for some reason we don't always give them the confidence to bring that forward as they grow up. Bobby gives us an opportunity to look at things from the perspective of an imagination master, who doesn't necessarily fit in with the way that things are 'supposed' to be done.
Our education system is fantastic in many ways, but it generally holds the idea that Intelligence is the ability to listen, store information, and then write it down in a test. We are allowed to play, and learn freely for a while, but that is very quickly put to one side. Imagination is restricted, as it is not easy to contain or grade, but it is the basis of creativity, ingenuity, and anything new or unique.
I know that teachers understand the value of imagination but that they are restricted by some unimaginative people that make the rules. I really hope that Cloud Boy helps them, and others to see the value in the young person who isn't always paying attention. If the book can also help some children to feel empowered, I would absolutely love it if they could share it with somebody that they feel doesn't understand or appreciate them as they should.
6. What kinds of discussions do you feel that Cloud Boy can encourage? Can the story help us to celebrate different ways of seeing the world?
Cloud Boy gives us all the chance to recognise our differences and should encourage discussions around what makes us ALL unique.
The terms Neurotypical and Neurodivergent are useful in a way, but there is so much difference within those categories that it is impossible to draw a line perfectly between the two. Conversations could be encouraged around the terminology, and questions should be asked as to whether disorder is the right word, or if difference might be better.
The message from Cloud Boy is positive, and encourages people to recognise one another's strengths and accept each other as they are. Perhaps we could start with one day a week dedicated to play, imagination, and wonder, where those people who don't suit the current structure can take the lead. It would be terrific chaos!
7. What would you like your readers - children and adult - to take from Cloud Boy?
A feeling of belonging no matter how different they may feel. I want them to come away from reading it knowing that there are people out there who will understand, appreciate, and love them just as they are, and they should not need to hide their true identity just to fit the norm. If children could take away some confidence to go forward in their own unique way, and if adults could take stock of how they respond to children who are going about things differently, that would be amazing!
8. Can you talk through the process of creating the images for Cloud Boy, and your focus for this?
My Illustrations are a merging of traditional and digital techniques. So I will make lots of textures, abstract shapes, drawings, and paintings before building up layers digitally to make the finished work.
The stories and the illustration always start with the characters, who I sketch over and over and over again until they jump out of the page and say "It's me! I'm here! I'm the one you're looking for!"
For Cloud Boy, I had the excellent Rob Lowe from the OUP art directing, and he suggested that fluorescent pink could be used to depict Bobby's imagination. It's such a striking colour, and is such a great way to show the difference between what is real and what is imagined. Thanks Rob!
I care a lot about texture in illustrations, so always want people to look at them and feel their depth through the roughness of a surface, or the sketchiness of a line. I never want them to be too perfect, as somehow the human part of them gets lost to me if everything is too clean. I quite like to leave some mistakes in there too!
9. How would you encourage children to create their own picture book character?
Look at yourself and the characters around you, and give some thought to how things seem to work differently for all of them. Talk to people and observe reality, but leave room to let your imagination add that special ingredient of something strange or unexpected. Draw and draw and draw again until the character comes to life!
10. Do you have other books planned? If children enjoy this story, which other books have you created that they might also enjoy?
I'm just finishing a new book with Oxford University Press right now and I'm super happy with it! I can't give too much away but I can say it is another one where the sky plays a very important part.
I've not made tonnes of books yet because I've been painting too many walls, but there are lots in the pipeline. I'm working on some fiction work for slightly older kids, and some more picture books too.
If children enjoy this story, other books that I have created include Don't ask the Dragon by Lemn Sissay and What the Crow saw Below by Robert Tregoning.
And finally... where is your favourite place to go to escape the studio and if you could, like Bobby, fly with your imagination - where would you want it to take you?
Being outside amongst nature is my favourite place to be. Great big forests or hills or mountains where there is almost no sign that another person has ever been there. I love that!
I'm lucky enough to be able to fly with my imagination as Bobby is me, and the best thing about it is that it takes me where it wants, and it's almost always a surprise!
Cloud Boy
What the Crow Saw Below
Don't Ask the Dragon
