#5 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Book and Movie Review

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett has some great illustrations and the storyline was very unusual, but interesting to readers. The text of the book followed the unusual illustrations by being place at different locations on the page. Sometimes it was at the very top of the page and other times it was placed in columns much like a newspaper. The story was told from a little girl's point of view and the majority of the book was a tale-tell the grandfather told her and her brother, Henry, as a bedtime story. I thought the author did a great job taking the story from real life, to make believe, and then back again. When I read this book to my students I had them shut their eyes and listen as I read the book. This was to help them imagine the illustrations that were on the page and the events happening in the story.

After watching the movie I can honestly say that I was highly disappointed. I always considered Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs to be a children's book and the movie is rated PG. There were some curse words in the movie and the only real resemblance between the book and the movie is the title and that food falls from the sky in both. Flint Lockwood is the main character in the movie and he builds a machine that makes the food rain from the sky. The movie turned into a 'love' story between Flint and Sam (the weather girl) that I felt was unnecessary.

I would recommend the book for elementary students; however, I would not recommend the movie.