Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

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Summary: Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful.
Review: 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.

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Summary: This book brought not only meatballs, but laughter too
Review: 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.

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Summary: Tickles a child's sense of silliness!
Review: 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.

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Summary: A fantastic read for children........ and adults.
Review: 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.....

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Summary: An appetizing adventure for all ages
Review: 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.

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Summary: 666 STARS!!! A FAVORITE BOOK FROM MY CHILDHOOD
Review: i GENRALLY GIVE RATINGS OF 666 STARS TO MY FAVORITE ALBUMS (MOST OF THEM BEING METAL I FIND IT APPROPRIATE) BUT FOR THIS BOOK I MUST MAKE IT PAINFULLY APPARENT THAT THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST WORKS OF FICTION AND ILLUSTRAION EVER PLACED BETWEEN A FRONT AND BACK COVER.
A GRANDFATHER TELLS HIS GRANDCHILDREN THE STORY OF THE ILLFATED TOWN OF CHEWANDSWALLOW, LOCATED IN A REIGION WITH SOME BIZZARRE WEATHER. HALF THE BOOK SHOWS THE TOWN THRIVING, WITH IT'S RROFLESS RESTAURANTS AND PIE IN THE SKY COMING DOWN. THE LATTER HALF IS THE DOWNFALL OF CHEWANDSWALLOW, WHERE PANDEMONIUM IS THE FORECAST AND A RAIN OF TERROR AND PEASOUP FOG, DRIVES IT'S RESIDENTS FAR AWAY ON BOATS OF BREAD.
THE STORY ITSELF IS PURE GENIUS AND THE ILLUSTRAIONS ARE LIKE NO OTHER BOOK I CAN RECALL. IM GOING TO GO TO MY PARENTS HOUSE TONIGHT AND FIND IT.

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Summary: This is STILL my favorite book
Review: No other words than BUY this book are necessary here. I am now a mom of 2 wonderful kids and to this day, this is still my favorite book. It is wonderful for children and also teaches valuable lessons.

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Summary: More different than I expected.
Review: If you like the word "the" you will really enjoy this book. This book is fille with all sorts of great words like "the" and "and". I find that words really help the story develop. Oh yeah - the pictures are also good. By using lines and stuff - they are able to make the paper resemble something that looks familiar. The book does not contain meatballs - but there are pictures of meatballs.

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Summary: What can I say about this book?
Review: As many other people, I read this book when I was younger (well, my mother read it to me). My family is very food oriented so me and my brother LOVED this interesting story about one of our favorite things. The pictures are beautifully done, none of that big bubbly neon drawings found in many childrens' books. The story kept me interested for 2 reasons: 1. It was about food. Any story about food can do no wrong. and 2. It keeps you guessing just how the people of Chewandswallow will survive. It is a great read, for just about anyone. Even if your child is too young to understand the story, they will love looking at the pictures of huge pieces of food falling from the sky. A must read for anyone looking for a unique and creative story.

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Summary: A marvelous childrens book
Review: I first read this book a long time ago, when I was 7 or 8. I loved the unique idea, the descriptive, detailed and often funny pictures, and the flow of the story. Now, 8 years later, I still love this book and read it often. I reccomend it for everybody, whether you're still a "young reader" or not.