Summary: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett is about a grandfather telling his grandchildren about a town Chewandswallow. The town existed some place far far away and what was unusual about the town was the weather. Each day the weather changed and instead of rain, snow, and fog, the sky gave the town their favorite foods! Each day would bring different entrees for breakfast and dinner. People would even save they food for a snack later. Each day the Sanitation Department would feed all of the cats and dogs before throwing the left over food into the ocean. One day, the weather took a turn for the worst. The townspeople could not live on the odd combinations of food falling from the sky. The last straw was the tornado of tomato and giant meatballs that destroyed the homes and schools. The townspeople decided to leave Chewandswallow and journey some place safe. That is when they found a new land without food weather and actual supermarkets. Grandpa’s story ended there and the kids went to bed. When they awoke in the morning, it had snowed. As they got dressed to go outside they noticed that the snow looked like of like mashed potatoes.
Citation: Barrett, J. (1978). Cloudy with a chance of meatballs. New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
Impression: I had never read this book as a child. I did see parts of the movie and enjoyed it so I thought that I should read it for this module. I didn’t like that some of the pictures did not have any color. The lines were drawn very close together which created some great shading but I expected an array of colors. It kind of reminded me of Dr. Seuss and his artwork. Overall I thought that this book was entertaining and it should be a book that deserves great attention.
Reviews:
| From Kirkus Reviews | |
| A flying pancake at breakfast triggers Grandpa's bedtime story set in the far-off land of Chewanswallow, where the food comes out of the sky and ""whatever the weather served, that was what they ate."" Most of the book consists of nothing more than elaborations on this conceit, with running menu information decked out in weather report terminology, but Judi Barrett's examples are nutty enough so that kids won't tire of the gag--even though Ron Barrett's flippy pop cartoons are too literal to enlarge it. The plot thickens with the maple syrup, and at last the portions grow so large that the people are being bombarded and buried by food--and so they all sail off on peanut-butter sandwiches to a land where food is purchased at the supermarket. A dubious improvement perhaps, but Grandpa's imaginings are very close to a little kid's funny bone--which everyone knows is located somewhere along the intestinal tract. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. |
From the Publisher
The tiny town of Chewandswallow was very much like any other tiny town except for its weather which came three times a day, at breakfast, lunch and dinner. But it never rained rain and it never snowed snow and it never blew just wind. It rained things like soup and juice. It snowed things like mashed potatoes. And sometimes the wind blew in storms of hamburgers. Life for the townspeople was delicious until the weather took a turn for the worse. The food got larger and larger and so did the portions. Chewandswallow was plagues by damaging floods and storms of huge food. The town was a mess and the pople feared for their lives. Something had to be done, and in a hurry.
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Suggestions: I like this book and how fun and entertaining the story was. I think that it would do well in a library by being displayed among an unusual weather theme. The theme in the library could change from week to week so that each subject gets recognition. There could be activities for students to part take in such as fun discussions on their favorite foods and what would their town’s weather be like.
Summary: Millions Of Cats by Wanda Gag is about an old woman who wants a cat. The old man, her husband, sets out on a journey to retrieve a special cat for his wife. When he come to a valley of cats he can’t decide which one to choose so he take all of them home. When he arrives home his wife tells him that they cannot take care of all of the cats. The old man says okay and decides to ask the cats “who is the prettiest cat?” in hopes that one cat would want to stay with the couple. All of the cats think they are the prettiest and end up eating each other up. One straggler stays alive because he does not think he is pretty. The couple takes him in and feeds him till he grows strong and pretty.
Citation: Gag, W. (1928). New York, NY: G.P Putnam’s Sons.
Impressions: I thought that this book was very enjoyable. I am used to seeing more color in books these days so it strikes me as odd to see these books without color. I believe that these books are true classics for that reason because of their simplicity. The text often times rhymes or repeats which is great for younger readers.
Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
Millions of Cats is a wonderful tale of vanity versus humility, written and illustrated by the singular Wanda Gag. An old man and his wife decide to get a cat, so the old man goes out in search of the prettiest cat of all. When he is forced to choose from "hundreds, thousands, millions and billions and trillions" of cats, he (naturally) brings them all home. When the wife points out their inability to support the legion of felines, it is left to the cats to decide who among them is the prettiest. Anyone who has ever owned more than a single cat can tell you what happens next. Gag's simple, appealing black ink drawings are perfect for the story, somehow capturing at least the idea of millions of cats in a single page. Repeated lines and the sing-song title refrain make this a read-aloud natural.(Ages 4 to 8) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
"This Newbery Honor winner is distinguished by innovative design and a strong storyteller's cadence." (School Library Journal's "One Hundred Books that Shaped the Century")
"A perennial favorite." (The New York Times)
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"A perennial favorite." (The New York Times)
Retrieved from Amazon.com
Suggestions: I think that this book could be promoted among books about cats. The display or theme could be showcased for animal projects or even pets. There could be various books about cats, dogs, turtles, hamsters, etc. It could even be placed on a display for classic books or classic black and white books.
