ImAmes's Full Review: Judi Barrett - Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
My favorite children's book that I read over and over, while snuggled in my comforter on those cold winter nights, was Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. I loved the book so much that not only had I worn the cover out, but I had memorized it word for word. Since I had done this so easily, I decided to enter Forensics in Grade School in the Storytelling Category where I would recite this entire book for an audience- even won me a first place ribbon! So let me take you on this incredible and fun journey to a place that takes their weather reports VERY seriuosly!
The story begins as every family is accustomed to- breakfast around the kitchen table with some minor incidents which are always good for a laugh early in the morning. In this home, Grandpa is making pancakes, for it is tradition in this family to have pancakes for breakfast. And as usual, the kids are bickering over how many they each can eat. The family pets come running through the kitchen, distracting Grandpa, and a pancake lands smack dab on her brother's head! After the chaos of the day, bedtime has arrived and Grandpa decides to tell them a story of a little town that always had food- at all times, day or night, and goes a little something like this......
There was a small, little town, nestled between oceans and hidden by mountains, called Chewandswallow. It was your typical town- it had your Main Street, schools, shops, and homes in the neighborhoods. What made this town so special, was that it relied strictly on the weather, and God, to bring them their food! What do I mean? Well, let's just say that when they watched the weather report, they took it to heart! Skies that were empty and clear meant no food was coming, but when a storm rolled in, look out! To get an idea of what this could have looked like, picture in your mind sitting outside and being rained on, but the rain is actually orange juice or soup! Or when it was the snowy months, you would be playing knee deep, not in snow, but mashed potatoes! I know, just the thought of all this food is making me quite hungry!
Chewandswallow was quite content with it's lifestyle, they never had to worry about money for groceries, or having to take time out of their busy lives to go grocery shopping. Every morning they would go to works as usual, catching a donut or bagel on the way to their car, or filling up an umbrella filled with soda! They never left their houses without taking with them their kitchen utensils, and were smart to keep and store the food they didn't eat in their fridges for later.
One of the most clever parts of the story, and a funny page to see, is that they actually had a restaurant that had no roof and was pretty much there for their tables and chair to sit at while dining on hot dogs falling from the sky- what a concept!
My favorite illustrated page is during a dinner one evening, and a huge lemon yellow jello was sitting on top of a mountain, which shined when the sun set behind it. The deer graze on the steaks and peas that had fell earlier, and the swans swim in what must have been some kind of beverage.
You can imagine what type of clean crew they needed, obviously not everything was eaten or put away. It fell on streets, roof tops, and fell in the sewers. The Sanitation Department was always on top of it, clearing food out and putting it back into the ground, so not to waste a single morsel.
Then one day, the weather took a turn for the worse....and the food came in awful forms, smells, and taste. Spaghetti tied up traffic, gorgonzola cheese rained an entire day, overcooked broccoli and brussel sprouts were coming with no end in sight, and to top of another day, there was a thick pea soup fog that they had a hard time seeing or EATing through!
The townspeople started to fear the worse when the weather continued it's destructive path. Not only was it bad food, but the portions were coming in bigger and bigger! The school was closed due to a giant pancake covering the entire building, while fifteen inches of cream cheese and jelly sandwiches landed. But nothing was as bad as the Tomato Soup Tornado which was accompanied by a terrible salt and pepper wind.
The town was in ruins, and the last two pictures of the town are something you have to see for yourself! Huge donuts are rolling thru town, bacon and steaks are raining everywhere, pickles and meatballs are stuck in rooftops, while alphabet soup spells out LOOK OUT!
It was getting to much for anyone to clean up, and lives were at STEAK, so it was time for the townspeople to leave their once happy town and find a new place to live. So using large pieces of stale bread, peanut butter, and pizza slices for sails, they crossed the ocean together to save their lives.
After sailing for a week, they found a small town on the coast where they used their resources and used the stale bread again to build temporary homes. The people started to begin again their lives, but would now have to get used to grocery shopping and only expecting rain and snow, and not food.
Grandpa ended his story, tucking the kids in for a must needed rest. The very next morning, the kids both had the story in their head, and as they sled on the new fallen snow, they swear that the sun looked like a pat of butter sitting on a hill of mashed potatoes.
The book is a classic that I have loved, and that have also grown to love. Written by Judi Barrett and Illustrated by Ron Barrett, it is a part of the Weekly Children's Book Club. Why not check out Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs at your local Library today?!
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