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katykelly's review against another edition
5.0
Why did I not discover this as a child?!?! Brilliant concept, beautifully illustrated and makes me very hungry for meatballs :)
gracepizza40's review against another edition
3.0
Pros:
-The illustrations are amazing! I loved that the authors used lines for shading. It looks awesome. And the drawings themselves are very nice. Not too realistic, but not too cartoonish either. I love them!
-All the fun things they put in the illustrations:
Cons (?/other things I noticed):
-I noticed that there were only white or black people in the book.
-The food is very American. If there was actually an island like Chewandswallow, then there would be much more interesting, diverse types of foods every day! Yum! That would be a cool story idea!...
-How do they create all these foods like the various meats, pancakes, eggs, etc .?
-They have a grandpa and a mother. Where did the dad go?
-The illustrations are amazing! I loved that the authors used lines for shading. It looks awesome. And the drawings themselves are very nice. Not too realistic, but not too cartoonish either. I love them!
-All the fun things they put in the illustrations:
Spoiler
In the newspaper, "The Chewandswallow Digest", "Spaghetti Ties Up Town", "Record-Breaking Pasta Fall Causes Chaos", "Traffic snarled on Lower Intestine Street", the Bowel Movers truck, the woman reading "Gone With the Wind" while she and other citizens were being swept up in the salt-and-pepper hurricane, and the sign reading "CLOSED DUE TO HEAVY FOOD" were my favorites.Spoiler
-the fat pancake that covered the school.Cons (?/other things I noticed):
-I noticed that there were only white or black people in the book.
-The food is very American. If there was actually an island like Chewandswallow, then there would be much more interesting, diverse types of foods every day! Yum! That would be a cool story idea!...
-How do they create all these foods like the various meats, pancakes, eggs, etc .?
-They have a grandpa and a mother. Where did the dad go?
Spoiler
maybe he went to the store to get milk and disappeared to Chewandswallow...Spoiler
-I feel like Chewandswallow is probably a stomach or something. They have a bowel 'truck' and lower intestines, they have 3 meals a day that change in amount (the extreme/changes in weather- maybe that's why there is only American food for the weather), and stuff like that. If that were true, maybe the people there are like cells that keep the body alive??ponch22's review against another edition
5.0
I've wanted to read (or maybe re-read; can't remember if I ever read this when I was younger) this book for almost a decade—ever since I saw the animated movie in theaters, I wondered exactly how the children's book was adapted—the story in the film felt pretty crazy for a 30-year-old book. And so, I decided to put this on my 2018 Reading Challenge as a "book you can read in a day."
Unfortunately, since it's been ~9 years since I've seen the movie, I can barely remember the story to compare it to the book! However, a quick read of the Wikipedia summary of the film's plot makes me realize the two are quite different—the only thing linking them is both take place in a town called Chewandswallow that is threatened by super-large food items that rain down from the sky.
[a:Judi Barrett|5336|Judi Barrett|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1269304682p2/5336.jpg]'s book [b:Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs|8073|Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs|Judi Barrett|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1439779831s/8073.jpg|11045] begins in black and white and the story of Chewandswallow is something a man tells his grandchildren at bedtime. The weather comes three times a day, bringing with it breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The residents all enjoy the varying meals that the sky provides until eventually, things start getting out of hand.
As the bedtime story is told, the illustrations switch to color. [a:Ron Barrett|78790|Ron Barrett|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s sketches are highly detailed and a pleasure to look at. The story is cute (especially). The screenwriters took a lot of liberties with the story, but that's to be expected when the source material is 32 pages long... This is a classic children's book and I can't wait to read it to my daughter in a few years.
Unfortunately, since it's been ~9 years since I've seen the movie, I can barely remember the story to compare it to the book! However, a quick read of the Wikipedia summary of the film's plot makes me realize the two are quite different—the only thing linking them is both take place in a town called Chewandswallow that is threatened by super-large food items that rain down from the sky.
[a:Judi Barrett|5336|Judi Barrett|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1269304682p2/5336.jpg]'s book [b:Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs|8073|Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs|Judi Barrett|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1439779831s/8073.jpg|11045] begins in black and white and the story of Chewandswallow is something a man tells his grandchildren at bedtime. The weather comes three times a day, bringing with it breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The residents all enjoy the varying meals that the sky provides until eventually, things start getting out of hand.
As the bedtime story is told, the illustrations switch to color. [a:Ron Barrett|78790|Ron Barrett|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s sketches are highly detailed and a pleasure to look at. The story is cute (especially
Spoiler
the whole town's escape plan and shock at learning what a grocery store istoucansam23's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
mmulvaney's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
brookieworm's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
baker16's review against another edition
5.0
This was my favorite children's story. My teacher read this to my second grade class.
lanceschaubert's review against another edition
5.0
Meteorologists always get the weather wrong. But it was delicious, so 10/10 in spite of that guy.
audreychamaine's review against another edition
5.0
After a morning of flapjack tossing, Grandpa tells a bedtime story about the land of Chewandswallow, where the weather comes three times a day and showers food, not rain. Everything is wonderful in Chewandswallow until the weather gets out of hand. Will the residents be able to escape the terrible onslaught of unsavory dishes? The future of Chewandswallow is explained in the sequel to the book, [b:Pickles to Pittsburgh|825292|Pickles To Pittsburgh A Sequel To Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs|Judi Barrett|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178721184s/825292.jpg|11044].
Awards: Colorado Children’s Book Award, Georgia Children’ Book Award, Golden Sower Award, New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books, Reading Rainbow Book, SMART Book Award Nominee
Awards: Colorado Children’s Book Award, Georgia Children’ Book Award, Golden Sower Award, New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books, Reading Rainbow Book, SMART Book Award Nominee