Cloudy+with+a+Chance+of+Meatballs

**SUMMARY/REVIEW**
The small town of Chewandswallow is is wonderful, some may even say delicious! (1) It's in this place that it doesn't rain just rain, or snow just snow. No, here in the town of Chewandswallow, it snows mashed potatoes, rains soup and juice, and the wind even blows in hamburgers. The townspeople love the life of delicious food falling from the sky, until one day when the weather takes a turn for the worse. As the food gets larger and larger and the portions fall faster and faster from the clouds, the quaint town is soon being destroyed by floods of maple syrup and tornadoes of tomatoes--leaving the citizens of Chewandswallow fearing for their lives. The townspeople need to think of plan...and quick!

The story was also a basis for the hit movie, //Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs//, released by Sony Pictures in 2009, and has since generated a soundtrack, video game, and art book. (4)



**AUTHOR BIO**
Judi Barrett was born in the United Kingdom and has written many award-winning children's books (3). Several of her most popular books are illustrated by her husband, Ron Barrett. Ron is a former advertising art director to the Children's Television Workshop. Both Judi and Ron reside in New York City, safe from an abundance of falling pancakes. Judi spends most of her days dreaming up ideas for new books, however she also spends her time writing freelance book reviews. (2)

**OTHER CHILDREN'S LITERATURE**
//Old MacDonald Had An Apartment House; Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing; An Apple A Day; Benjamin's 365 Birthdays; Peter's Pocket; I Had To Take A Bath; I Had To Go To Bed; The Wind Thief; Animals Should Definitely Not Act Like People; I'm Too Small, You're Too Big; A Snake Is Totally Tail; What's Left?; Pickles Have Pimples: And Other Silly Statements; Pickles to Pittsburg: Sequel to Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs; The Things That Are Most In The World; I Know Two Who Said Moo//: //A Counting and Rhyming Book; Which Witch Is Which?; Never Take A Shark To The Dentist: And Other Things Not To Do; The Marshmallow Incident. (3)//

Colorado Children's Book Award; Georgia Children's Book Award; Golden Sower Award (4)
 * AWARDS**

**HISTORICAL CONTEXT**
Genre: Children's Picture Book. First written and published in 1978 by the Simon & Schuster imprint Atheneum Books. It was then re-published in 1982 by Aladdin Paperbacks in a trade paperback edition. The sequel, //Pickles to Pittsburg//, was then published in 2000. (5)

**MAJOR THEMES**
Seasons, Weather, Citizenship, Collaboration and Teamwork, Food, Family, Small-town life, Supernatural/ Magic, Adventure

**CITATIONS**
1.) http://www.scholastic.com/browse/book.jsp?id=1131 2.) Barrett, Judi, and Ron Barrett. //Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs//. New York: Atheneum, 1978. Print. 3.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judi_Barrett 4.) http://books.simonandschuster.com/Cloudy-With-a-Chance-of-Meatballs/Judi-Barrett/9780689707490 5.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudy_with_a_Chance_of_Meatballs