Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

"Across as an ocean, over lots of huge bumpy mountains, across three hot deserts and one smaller ocean there lay the town of Chewandswallow."

"After a brief shower of orange juice, low clouds of sunny-side up eggs moved in followed by pieces of toast. Butter and jelly sprinkled down for the toast. And most of the time it rained milk afterwards."


The town of Chewandswallow looks like any other small town at first, but there is one big difference. There are no food stores in this town because all of their food falls from the sky!

Why I Love It

This is one of those simple books that wins lots of points for having such an original idea. The plot is super simple and quite short, but kids of all ages love the fun pictures and the crazy idea of getting all your food from such a silly source. It really does feel like a bedtime story that a visiting grandpa might share.

You Should Know

There is a sequel to this book called Pickles to Pittsburgh.  It's not quite as original and fun as the first book, but it's a good followup read.

There is also a movie version from 2009 that extends the plot from simply visiting a town and watching the people evacuate to the story of an inventor who creates a machine that turns water into food to save his starving town.

Talking Points

• How is life in Chewandswallow different from your life?
• What might someone from Chewandswallow think is strange about your life?
• Culture means things a group of people learn to do a certain way based on where and when they live. What are some parts of your culture?
• What ways can you think of that people from different places have different cultures?  How does someone having a different culture from you affect how you interact with them?