Customer Reviews

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

5 star:		(188)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is one book that bridges the generation gap. There are many books in my son's library that elicit a groan in me when he chooses them during our nightly story reading, but "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" certainly isn't one of them. From the absurd tall-tale to the fabulously detailed drawings, each time we read this book we find something new to discuss. Due to the fact that my son is only three and a half, and not able to understand much of the subtle humor of the illustrations, I know this book will have a very long shelf-life at our house as he starts "getting" more and more of the punchlines throughout the years. In the meantime, he is fascinated by the pancake that Grandpa flips onto Henry's head and the giant jello setting in the sky after dinner one night in the delicious land of Chewandswallow.

This is a funny book with an imaginative concept--the people of the town CHEWANDSWALLOW eats what drops from the sky--orange juice rain, pancakes floating down, hamburgers on a stormy day. The climate goes awry and the people set sail on stale bread boats to move to a world where food is bought in the supermarket. The illustrations are very funny, moving from line drawings in black and white to lovely colored illustrations as the fantasy story begins. This story appeals to a wide range of ages, from 3 to 7 or 8. The text would be challenging for a first grade reader but the concept appeals to pre-schoolers as well as older kids.

I remember when I was in the first grade and having had this story read to us at library time. Everyone in the class loved it and every time when it snowed for the next two winters I looked outside and every once in while I thought I saw mashed potatoes covering the ground. I'm all grown up now and I still love this book, but kids still love it too. We were requested to read this about at least once a month at the day care where I worked.

The story is full of imagination and the illustrations, though animated are detailed. The story is a modern tall tale and reading this book is like looking through a giant children's comic book. My favorite section is when the weather food goes beserk and there is a pickle in a living room, a noodle stuck on a man's head, a dog stuck to piece of pizza, and a hamburger stuffed atop a chimney. Stories don't get much more imaginative and creative than that.

When I first read this book I was about seven years old.... and I haven't stopped loving it in the 13 years since. The book is so imaginative and beautifully illustrated. The story holds a child's attention.. a feat that a book rarely accomplishes in the age of television and computer games. It starts on saturday morning... pancake morning. And it ends with a bedtime story that stretches across oceans, desserts, mountains, and into the realm of Chewandswallow, a most extraordinary town. As I child I was fascinated with rain, snow, and thunderstorms. I aboslutely loved them! In Chewandswallow, the weather brings breakfast lunch and dinner. The illustrations are so well drawn and full of detail, there is always something new to see. My favorite drawing is the two page spread in the middle of the book, which depicts the town under destruction of monstrous food... gargantuan pizza, two-story pickles, and doughnuts the size of cars. Everytime I read the story to my cousins, they laugh over the man with the noodle on his head. It is fun for us to think up our own weather-menus for Ralph's Roofless Restaurant, and draw pictures of the food falling from the sky. Kid's love it, it's good clean fun, and the adults don't get bored reading it over and over. In fact, I have it memorized! And I just found out that there is a sequal to this book, Pickles to Pittsburgh, so I am going to have to get it to read... after all these years, I finally get to see what happened back in the town of Chewandswallow... the town everyone was afraid to go back to because of the giant food that fell from the sky.....

I've been working with this book (with children) for many years and have just bought my fifth copy (as they seem to 'disappear' whenever I loan them to children to take home--I suspect they love them too much to part with them for good!). The idea of reality being what we're used to it being (not rather what it HAS to be everywhere), as well as the hilarity of the situation the people of the story are faced with is just delightful. It is an excellent resource of rich vocabulary and expression, and the drawings are believable and at the same time jaw dropping. Highly recommended to all ages, especially preschool through the lower grades.

I recently purchased this book, again, for my grandchildren. My daughters and nephew still remember this book. They loved it and we read it many, many times together. It is the perfect age level for my 7 yr. old grandson, but a little long for the 4 year old. We usually just "talk the book" because he loves the illustrations. I am an artist myself and I just love the artwork. After the first reading of the book, it transferred over to the dinner table. What would happen if we had a flood of green beans? A funny, silly and wonderful book!

I purchased a newer version of my childhood favorite book and found that it is not the same book. Alas, someone decided it needed to be edited to make it more PC and to add some other changes that really make no sense at all. If you're a die-hard fan of the book from your childhood, be sure to get an older used copy!

I first read this book when I was 9 years old. I must have read it at least 25 times over the course of that year, and now, at age 25, I have begun reading it to my 7 month old son. It is one of the truely classic children's books. Judy Barrett combines the unrealistic tales told to children by their elders along with the wonderfully believeable tales that children concock in their own minds. Imagine for a moment that the town of Chewandswallow were real...for an adult this would mean the fantasy of never having to cook another meal and for the child this would mean playing with their food and eating with their hands all the time! For the town of Chewandswallow is a town where all of your meals come from the sky - clouds of scrambled eggs for breakfast followed by a shower of orange juice. It is a wonderfully illustrated tale that makes one wish they could experience life in this town for just one day. While I have now become an adult, it is still nice to dream about a place where the sunset atop a snow covered hill resembles a pat of butter atop mashed potatoes.

This book will definetily bring a smile to your face. The author and illustrator both did an exceptional job at creating a fantasy world. The book begins with a grandpa telling his grandchildren a usual bedtime story. However, the story takes a wild turn as the book begins to unfold. The grandpa describes a very unusual town with very unusual weather. See in this town, the sky supplied all the food. Breakfast, lunch and dinner all came from the sky. As I began to read, I couldn't wait to flip the pages and find out what kind of food the weather would bring that day. Your imagination goes wild as you try to envision yourself running about trying to catch your lunch as it falls from the sky. The illustrations are great. Now, you would think that this whole food falling from the sky thing would be a pretty good idea. But, is it? Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is definetily a book that is worth while to read. It will always remain one of my all time favorite children's books.

The title of the story is Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. The author is Judi Barnett. The story is illustrated by Ron Barnett. The story is about a Grandpa who tells his grandchildren (Henry and his sister) a tall tale about a make-believe town called Chewandswallow. In Chewandswallow it rains food three times a day. A problem occurs when the town has to evacuate because the food is getting too big and heavy. The people leave and never return to the town. They go to an island across the ocean. We think that Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a good book to read because it makes you hungry for food and it makes you laugh. If you like this book, you should read Pickles to Pittsburgh.