Summary: In Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, grandpa tells an amazing story that takes place in the small town of Chewandswallow. The people of this town never have to cook because food falls from the sky three times a day until the weather starts acting peculiar. The food starts to act like dangerous weather and the people of Chewandswallow have to set sail for a new place to live. When they arrive in their new land they have to learn how to shop for food and even how to cook it.
APA Reference: Barrett, Judi. (1978). Cloudy with a chance of meatballs. New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Impressions: I remember when the movie came out- I saw the preview and thought, "that looks dumb," and never went and saw it. This week I read this book with a group of students on a level N and got this book out of the Literacy Closet hoping I could entice them with a book that had a movie attached to it. As we read it- I noticed that I liked it way more than the kids did! I truly enjoyed Grandpas story about the town of Chewandswallow. I loved how silly the name of the town is and how silly the idea of food falling from the sky is. The detail put into this story is great like open roofed restaurants, a sanitization department, and weather/food predictions on the evening news. I also enjoyed the detail from the illustrations that made the story even better!
Professional Review: Overall, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is a fun and entertaining book for children. It helps children explore their imaginations, picturing the different things that are happening in the small town of Chewandswallow. The author brings the imaginative land to life and we can see this through the pictures changing from black and white to color. The storybook is aimed for children between the ages of 4 and 8 but it is an enjoyable book for people of all ages.
Brown, L. (2011). [Review of Cloudy with a chance of meatballs by L. Brown]. Retrieved from http://reviews-of-childrens-literature.pbworks.com/w/page/10581679/Cloudy%20With%20a%20Chance%20of%20Meatballs
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs helps one to use their imagination. Recently this world-renowned storybook was made into an animated movie. However the characters and story lines are somewhat different, the idea of food falling from the sky is still the main theme throughout. What children can learn from reading the book or watching the movie are things about the weather. Severe storms bring danger and harm where slight weather conditions such as rain brings food (in the story) but in real life water to plants. This book is a very good book to relate with a science activity in the classroom. It can also be related back to the food pyramid. Children can determine what foods are healthy or unhealthy for them to eat.
I think this book is well written and entertaining. Bedtime stories can take a child anywhere they want in the world, and this story shows exactly that. The children are taken to a land where food falls from the sky. This is unlike any other ‘normal’ story that we hear. A child must use their imagination to really grasp the humor and excitement that is portrayed in the storybook.
Brown, L. (2011). [Review of Cloudy with a chance of meatballs by L. Brown]. Retrieved from http://reviews-of-childrens-literature.pbworks.com/w/page/10581679/Cloudy%20With%20a%20Chance%20of%20Meatballs
Library Uses: This would be great to tie into some writing curriculum and have a creative writing lesson that goes along with reading the story. Another way to use this in the library would be to have an art project where the kids get to illustrate what a 'tomato tornado' and a 'pea soup fog' would look like. Could they come up with another food/weather incident and illustrate it?
