1) This book is about a grandpa telling his grandkids the story of the town of ChewandSwallow. ChewandSwallow was a town where food fell from the sky at breakfast, lunch, and dinner time. They knew what was going to be coming down from the weather reports on TV. However, the food kept getting bigger and bigger, and the town began to be flooded with spaghetti noodles, the kids could not go to school because of a giant pancake landing on the school building, and the town was going crazy. They eventually loaded up and set sail to find somewhere else to live, eventually finding an island by the coast. They loved this new homeplace, but the only thing that was weird to them was having to go to the grocery to get food!
2) Age Level: 4-8 years old, Grade level: Preschool-3rd grade
3) Appropriate classroom use of this book could be reading, as far as comparing and contrasting the book and movie
4) Individual students who might benefit from reading this book could be students that like humor books, or students that might have seen the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
5) As far as small group use of this book you could have each group discuss what was different from the movie and the book, comparing and contrasting the two.
6) As far as whole class use of this book you could do a read aloud to the whole class, and then play the movie one day, because that would be fun for them, maybe after testing or something that they need a break, and then leading to the activity in small groups.
7) Related books: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairlystupid Tales, Strega Nona
8) As far as multimedia connections to this book, there is a movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs which is basically the book made over, would be good to use in classroom because it is rated G, and there is also a Kindle version of the book available.

Back in January I wrote a review of the film version of Cloud with a Chance of Meatballs and I promised a longer review of the book by Judi Barrett. I apologize for the delay. I really don't know where the time as gone!

The book has a framing story that begins with a mishap during breakfast. The grandfather is inspired and tells the children about a place called Chewandswallow where the weather brings food three times a day. Except near the end of the town's existence, the food gets too big and starts to be a threat to the well-being of the townspeople.

As the story is presented as a tall tale, there's no need to explain the mechanics behind the food weather or the sudden increase in the foods' size. Without that framing story I would have found the book annoying.

Although the illustration style of the book is very clearly a product of the late 1970s, the film manages to recreate many of the iconic scenes (though with different circumstances behind them). I liked seeing that connection between book and film even though they are otherwise so very different.

I saw previews for this movie and it seemed to ever-loving stupid to me. Still, I gave the book a chance and it was amazing. The idea is so fresh and new and unusual and strange. Why hasn't someone thought of this before now? The story is told as a bed time tale of a long time ago in a land far away. In this land, food falls from the sky. That sounds so messy. Being drenched in butter or soda so horrible.

Still the art was amazing and the story inspired my imagination. Anything is possible in the context of a story. Don't limit those possibilities. I love when a new idea lights me up.

The kids liked this story from 1978 too. They thought hamburgers falling from the sky was amazing. They gave it 5 stars too. Great story.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is such a fun and creative story. I characterize this book as fantasy/science fiction for both primary and intermediate ages. This story is about the town Chewandswallow and how it "pours" or "clears up" food. Everyday breakfast, lunch, and dinner fall from the sky due to technological advances discovered by a young boy. The town gets more than they bargained for when it is being covered by huge amounts of food. The genre science fiction aims to make the reader wonder what could really happen as a result of technology and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs did that for me! I think Judi Barrett did a great job writing this book. Everything is so descriptive and exciting! This book appeals to children because it is the story of an event that could never actually happen. The illustrations are very detailed, making it easy to picture this chaos. This would be a good book to start a science lesson dealing with weather because of all the excellent weather techniques demonstrated.

While Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is of course first and foremost simply a fun romp, both Judi Barret’s narrative and Ron Barrett’s accompanying artwork also manage to convey rather vividly how food can become a rather massive problem when it is uncontrollable or uncontrolled. And in my humble opinion, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs actually seems to combine two European folklore traditions, the legend of the Land of Cockaigne, the so-called Schlaraffenland, a utopian land of milk and honey, where residents do not have to work and where food is not only readily available, but where fish, already cooked, swim in the rivers, and the houses are made of gingerbread and candies, and indeed the many folklore stories presenting uncontrollable cooking and food (often with magic pots that continue cooking porridge etc. until the entire house is engulfed). There is thus a strong attitude featured in folklore that free and magical food (and that one does not have to do much in order to receive or eat it) is not only often too good to be true, but that it can easily have adverse effects if one is unable or in some cases, unwilling to control and master it.

Now I have always enjoyed stories about food getting out of control, and the idea of an El Dorado like food utopia ending up as a dystopia really resonates with me, both tickling my funny bone and also of course making me think a bit. I do wonder though if I would have seen the presented dystopic elements all that clearly in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs if I had read this story as a child (probably not). However, even as a child I loved stories like The Land of Cockaigne, where, as mentioned above, food grew on trees, the walls of the houses were made of gingerbread and the rivers flowed with wine and ready-to-eat seafood. And I do remember actually trying to take a bite out of my bedroom wall (I was about five at the time) because I thought it might just be made of gingerbread (funny now, but I was rather disappointed when the bedroom walls did not turn into gingerbread for me, and also wondered how I would be able to explain the presence of those tooth marks in my bedroom wallpaper to my mother).

A delightful and imaginative book telling the story of a town where the weather systems are made of food, and what happens when the weather goes awry.

Read this whimsical book to my g'little during our picnic in the park today. It's a funny, little book of improbable events. It's better than manna falling from heaven. My favorite was the full eggs, bacon, and toast with jam breakfast....falling to earth, ready to eat! Now, I'm watching the movie version with my g'littles.

I read this to my kids (especially my son) till it fell apart. Forget the movie (why do they have to clutter up the story). A movie will eiher leve out most of a books story and plug in something else or tell part of the story while gutting the point of the book. Or both. Read the book. If you have kids just pre-reading stage read it to them you'll all love it.

My daughter came home all excited about reading this book in school today. My son then chimed in and I soon had two children dancing around my kitchen telling me all about this book and laughing hysterically. I supposed I should read it myself before I recommend it, but my children definately gave it "two thumbs up"!

Este cuento infantil, rompe con los pensamiento lògicos y construye desde la gastronomía una situación meteorológica inusual.
Un cuento agradable de leer, incluso para los adultos porque despierta la imaginación y te hace creer en lo absurdo. Creo que es un libro que ayuda a los pequeños a entender los conceptos de fuera de patrón.
Las ilustraciones son tipo vintage, con una paleta de colores limitada a 3 o 4.
Me pareció un trabajo excepcional el que desarrollaron.

Muy recomendado.

Lots of imagination in this rather alarming tall tale of giagantic food run amuk.

I read "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" by Judi Barrett. The story is narrated by grandpa to his grandkids. He tells of a far off land called Chewandswallow. There all the weather is food. It snows mashed potatoes, rains soup, and accounts for the townspeople's three meals of the day. Life in Chewandswallow is good until the weather takes a turn for the worst. The portions are getting bigger and so is the food. It finally gets so bad the the townspeople have to make boats out of stale bread and leave the island for good. No one knows what became of Chewandswallow, but nobody dares to go back!

Grandpa is the main character. throughout the book he tells his grandkids stories and makes them pancakes. He is kind, gentle, and a very good storyteller.

The story takes place in the town of Chewandswallow. It is a town on a small island. There is no direct time period, but it seems relative to current time.

Overall I would give "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" five out of five stars. I would recommend it to any reader because it has a good message, is a quick read, and has a simple vocabulary. The incorporation of pictures also really helps bring the story to life.