I read “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” by Judi Barrett. This book was kind of weird. Every Saturday morning Grandpa would make pancakes for the family. Henry and the author loved pancakes. That morning was different though because the dog chased the cat into the kitchen and Grandpa sent a pancake flying and it landed on Henry’s head. That night Grandpa decided to tell a story that related to the pancake on Henry’s head. The town of Chewandswallow didn’t have food at the market. They had food sent from the sky everyday for food instead of rain and snow. One day the food fell in big chunks and wouldn't stop falling so everyone in the town sailed away on bread to a new town where they had to buy their own food. Which none of them even had to do because they had it given to them everyday.


The author is Henry’s sister, and she is telling the story. They all live in Grandpa’s house with their mom. The characters are not described very good except Grandpa, because he is always the one to make breakfast and puts the kids to sleep. He is the father that the kids don’t have. Every Night grandpa always tells them a story and that 1 night he told them that story.


The story takes place at Grandpa’s house. Grandpa tells the story of a town called Chewandswallow where there is not a lot of people in the town. The weather changes every day with new food for the people of the town to eat because they have no food that they can buy. They eventually have to move to a different town where they start their new lives. The story is during the summer months because it is always summer and not cold out, but everyday something new falls from the sky.


The story’s main purpose is to tell everyone that nothing comes to them easily. They have to work to get the things they want. No one person can get what they want all the time. Life doesn’t work that way. If we expect things to come to us, then we don’t have anything when something goes wrong and we can’t have that luxury. What would the point of life be if we were given everything we want. We need to work hard for what we are given.

This book is fun and informational at the same time. I would recommend this book to people who need to get a new perspective on life. This book is very easy to read, and people will get a lot out of of the book. This book is more for young kids, but older people can always read it too.

I don't think I ever actually read this as a child -- I probably just saw it on Reading Rainbow or something, but I was at least familiar with the story.

Reading it now as an adult, I wish I had read it because it's exactly my style of tall tale. It comes up with two ubiquitous, everyday things -- weather and food -- and combines them, and keeps taking it further and further, as if asking "and what happens when...?" "and then what would happen if...?" and allowing the reader to experience the result -- and caring about details and continuing to focus on the everyday nature of the combined topics. It strikes the perfect balance between imagination/fantasy and practical, everyday situations. I'm betting my kids will like it too.

Personally I don't like this art style and found the writing to be awkward! And I know it's just a work of fiction for children but the idea of food falling from the sky grosses me out (lol). Sorry, I know I'm not the ideal audience for this kind of book - it's just the truth.

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” by Judi Barrett was a great book. It was about a child telling the bedtime story that her grandfather told her and her brother one night. The story was about a town named Chewandswollow. In this town it rained and snowed juice and food during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. One day the weather took a turn for the worse and they had to abandon the town forever. They set sail to a new land on large slices of stale bread.

The main character was the little girl who telling the story her grandfather once told her. There was also two other characters, and they were her grandfather and her brother, Henry. Her grandpa tells the bedtime story about Chewandswallow to the two children.

The setting was in the town of Chewandswallow in the present time. The town was a mythical town where it always rains their food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The theme of “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” was coping with weather. It tells children that the weather was always changing and that people find ways to cope with the weather they were experiencing. In the town of Chewandswallow they experienced the raining of food and they cope by eating the food that falls from the sky.

I would recommend this book to boys and girls of all ages especially young children. You are easily able to make a mental picture of what’s happening, mostly because there is already pictures in there.