Balloon

by Bruce Handy, Julie Kwon (Illustrator)

A sweet and engaging seek-and-find story that follows the ups and downs of a lost balloon.

What’s better than holding onto a brand-new bright orange balloon?

Oh no! What’s worse than accidentally letting go of a bright orange balloon and watching it float up . . . up . . . up into the sky?

In this nearly wordless book, sharp-eyed readers will spot something orange and round in every scene as they join an endearing journey from disappointment to hope to a surprise ending better than they could have imagined. A balloon, seek-and-find play, and a (literally) warm-and-fuzzy ending—who could ask for more?

GENTLE The world is a noisy and busy place. This warm and welcoming picture book is just right for when children (and parents) just want to relax with a sweet story in a familiar setting with relatable characters. Its gentle message of resilience and optimism shines.

INTERACTIVE READING Within its quiet framework, there is ample room for active engagement—searching each scene for the lost balloon, finding the humorous moments and small side stories. and guessing what might happen next.

WORDLESS  For early learners and emerging readers, wordless picture books are wonderful for expanding their imaginations, and  becoming more active readers.

Perfect readers who enjoy seek-and-find booksParents, grandparents, and caregiversTeachers and librarians seeking wordless picture books to shareGift-giving for birthday, baby shower, or holidayFans of picture books like Hot Dog, Every Little Kindness, and Bruce Handy’s What If One Day...

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

42 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 14, 2025

About the author

Bruce Handy is currently a contributing editor of Vanity Fair. A former writer and editor at Spy and Time, his articles, essays, reviews, and humor pieces have appeared in such publications as The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, New York magazine, Rolling Stone, Vogue,

A native of California and a graduate of Stanford University, Handy lives in Manhattan with his wife, novelist Helen Schulman, and their two children. Wild Things is his first book.

Reviews

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am in love with this almost wordless picture book.
Now that said I love balloons, I tolerate cats. What this is a balloon story right? Yes, the young boy has an orange balloon that floats off into the sky and he looks for that round orange object through the park, through the urban streets of his city.
Now in a wordless title the illustrations need to be
“read” to understand the story. These illustrations are so readable and filled with scenes in the park and on the urban streets. Lots of great illustrations of the mix of ethnic groups found in urban cities.

In 2023 I read a title, Waiting for Tomorrow, illustrated by Kwon and drew attention to the fact that one could see her animation skills in the illustrations which I didn’t care for. Come forward two years and Kwon has illustrated this title in pen and ink and colored them digitally and the range of color for example on green is fantastic, sunlight on green, green in shade, the green of tree leaves.
At last I have seen a use of digital technology that works in picture book illustration. Kwon’s pen and ink skills are great.
This title would be great for the 2026 Caldecott award or an honor book!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

wordless picture book about a boy who loses a orange balloon, and then keeps seeing round orange things all over the city and thinks it might be his balloon. Very cute and clever way of showing something that happens to all kids..losing a balloon and being sad. But here the kids ends up with a furry something that makes him forget about the balloon.

[GS Dachslove · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of details in the pictures (squirrel on every page, noticing what looks like the balloon). Kind of takes a weird turn at the end, but I still think this would be fun to read one on one with a child.

[Lil Moo]

I must be having a weird day because yes the art is beautiful and the story is cute... but why did I get teary-eyed in the end? Haha.

[deedee watts · Rating 4 out of 5]

i also feel this way about orange items

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has very few words - most pages have none, and a few have one to four.

[Ossy Firstan · Rating 4 out of 5]

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