I've been wanting to reread this ever since I saw the trailer for the movie they are making based on this book. Like many movies based on picture books, though, it looks like they are adding quite a lot of additional detail to the story. I just hope they stay true to the idea of the book, which is that there is a town called Chewandswallow where they get their food from the weather instead of a grocery store.

The idea is fun, but the illustrations are the best part of the book. Of course giant food is always hilarious, but probably my favorite illustration has the lady caught in the tomato tornado sitting in her easy chair reading Gone with the Wind. :)

Just saying... Children's books are superior.

Meteorologists always get the weather wrong. But it was delicious, so 10/10 in spite of that guy.

Also read this aloud! :)

3.5

Very cute story with a different story inside. I can see why the kids like it. It is yummy!

This was an adorable fantasy children's book that has grown fame and turned into a cult classic and even a movie in the time since it has been released. The book details the town of Chewandswallow, where it rains different food and drink items at breakfast, lunch, and dinner to provide the town with all the food and drink they need. In fact, the sanitation workers for the town had to clean up all the extra food that fell on the houses and sidewalks and feed the excess food to the town's dogs and cats. Eventually this kind of weather goes wrong in the town; the food that is raining down is overcooked or tastes bad and the food falling out of the sky becomes too much to handle. The townspeople have to abandon Chewandswallow because the food storms get out of control. When they arrive at their new town, they have to get used to the idea of buying their own food and eating food out of cans and containers. I thought this book was a timeless fantasy book that is versatile in all the age groups it could be read to. I would probably read this book to a second grade class and use it as an introduction to a weather unit, generating a discussion about what kinds of weather we actually see while giving students a silly positive experience with weather before getting into the more specific details.

I wasn’t that impressed with this book but my daughter LOVED it and because she’s the expert on children’s books, I changed my rating to reflect her opinion :)

"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" is a fun children’s book. It is about two children and their grandfather who tells them a bed time story. This story has to do with a town called Chewandswallow. This town is just like every other town except for one little thing; the weather is their source of food. They have no grocery story, just the weather. The weather brings them three meals a day. It never rains or snows like you'd think. It rains soups and snows peas. The wind often brings in burgers. Chewandswallow thought that there was no problem with this. They soon find out that this was not as convenient and useful as they made it out to be.

The main characters in this book are the narrator, Henry, and Grandfather. The grandfather in this book is who is telling the bedtime story to Henry and the narrator. The only other characters in this book are the people of Chewandswallow in the bedtime story the grandfather is telling. The people of Chewandswallow love it there and find their unique situation perfectly normal. They find out that it is actually a very dangerous problem that they have on their hands.

The main setting of this book is within the bedtime story that takes place in the small town of Chewandswallow. Throughout the book the town of Chewandswallow is the main topic. In the beginning of "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" the book takes place in the kitchen of the narrator and Henry.

I think the main theme of this book is never let go of your imagination. No matter how old you are, you can still have fun. The grandfather told this amazing bedtime story to his grandchildren and had fun with them. I think that this is overlooked a lot of the time. People often forget to simply have fun. This is a very important thing to have in life. If you don't have a little fun in life, what is there to look forward to?

I thought this book sent a very inspiring message and I would definitely recommend it to any parent or young child that can read. No matter how old you are, you can clearly understand the message this book sends.

Stark allegory for consumerism and climate change

Great illustrations of a town getting absolutely wrecked by food and people sailing away on boats made of giant stale bread.

This was a fun picture book, and part of my re read of childhood favorites for this year. I love how the whole story is a bedtime story from Grandpa. The illustrations are interesting, and quite well done. They have plenty in the background as well, so much going on in one picture!
Any picture book age child should like this!