Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

by Judi Barrett

illustrated by Ron Barrett

(New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1978)

Hardcover, 32 Pages, Children’s

ISBN: 9780689306471, US$16.95

From the Cover: 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 plagued by damaging floods and storms of huge food. The town was a mess and the people feared for their lives. Something had to be done, and in a hurry.

My Review: This “Blast from the Past” came to my attention again when, a couple of weeks ago, I saw the trailer for the animated film adaptation online. After remembering Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, the next time we went to the library, I made sure to check it out so I could read it to my son and daughter.

My son loved it. My daughter … well, she’s one, so it’ll take some time for her to appreciate it. But, as I said, my son loved it. He liked the drawings and the wacky idea that hamburgers and juice and spaghetti fall from the sky. (He’s sitting next to me looking at it and laughing and calling it “silly” as I type this review. SCORE!) For my part, this is a book that is filled with nostalgia. I remember this book from my childhood, and I loved the whimsical premise, and, like my son, I thoroughly enjoyed Ron Barrett’s great illustrations. They are absolutely marvelous, and looking at them from the perspective of nearly three decades, they almost seem to have a MAD Magazine-like quality to them.

They are also quite memorable. The drawings of the giant pancake on the school, the pea soup fog, the roofless restaurant, or the lady with the stroller running from a giant donut—to name just a few—are images that have stayed with me since my childhood, and I am thrilled to be able to share it with my children.

As for the film adaptation, I am torn. Independent of the book, it looks like a lot of fun (and the fact that it stars Anna Farris, Bruce Campbell, Bill Hader and Mr. T is a big plus). However, taken together with the book, it looks like a disappointment on two levels: (1) it explains why Chewandswallow has the weather it does. That was part of the original charm of the book, that it was unexplained and just taken as fact. And (2) the makers have departed from Barrett’s illustrative style creating a more cartoony look for the film, which is just the biggest disappointment I could think of.

So, in my opinion, skip taking your kids to the film, and read them the book instead. They’ll thank you for it, I promise.

America: A Patriotic Primer

by Lynne Cheney

illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser

(New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2002)

Hardcover, 40 Pages, Children’s Primer

ISBN: 9780689851926, US$16.95

From the Cover: America: A Patriotic Primer is a succinct history of the United States, an ABC of the principles on which this country was founded, and a book for children and families to pore over, discuss, and cherish.

A is for America,

the land that we love.

B is for the Birthday

of this country of ours. ...

To choose the twenty-six people and ideas that comprise the book, Lynne Cheney has drawn on a lifetime of learning about the American past, and on the inspiration that comes from witnessing recent history firsthand. Illustrator Robin Preiss Glasser imbues Mrs. Cheney's words with childlike joy through her exuberant drawings. Together they have created a patriotic primer, a book that teaches history by celebrating the diversity, tenacity, and faith of the American people. This A to Z of America frames the story—and the miracle—of our country.

My Review: Well, I’m not sure what exactly I want to say about this book, after all it is Independence Day and it would seem anti-American to pan a book about America and written by the Second Lady, but that’s exactly what I’m about to do. The phrase “propagandist nonsense” comes to mind as I consider this book after having read it, and that’s exactly what this book was: a bunch of propagandist nonsense and nothing but a bunch of propagandist nonsense.

Cheney’s book is painfully simplistic, transparent and full of abstract words like “Freedom” or “Liberty” that ring false, especially given what her husband has been up to since 2000.

Plus there’s the fact that in both instances where Cheney describes the freedoms (there’s that word again) spelled out in the Bill of Rights, she “forgets” the right “to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” (which, given the current Administration, seems to be a pretty big oversight).

Anyway, if you’re looking for a “Patriotic Primer” skip Cheney’s America its pages are plastered with nothing but propaganda, abstract and undefined concepts and brainwas— I mean “patriotism.” In my mind, this is a dangerous book because it asks for blind patriotism and unquestioning loyalty to “America.” Skip it … there are better “Patriotic Primers” out there.

This review can also be found at Bryan’s Book Blog

Why War is Never a Good Idea

by Alice Walker

illustrated by Stefano Vitale

(New York: HarperCollins, 2007)

Hardcover, 32 Pages, Poetry

ISBN: 9780060753856, US$16.99

Though War is Old

It has not

Become wise.

From the Cover: Poet and activist Alice Walker personifies the power and wanton devastation of war in this evocative poem. Stefano Vitale’s compelling paintings illustrate this unflinching look at war’s destructive nature and unforeseen consequences.

My Review: Last night I read this book to Connor and Deirdre as we were getting ready to go to sleep. I don’t know if it made much of an impression on Connor, let alone Deirdre, as he doesn’t even have a concept of “war” (which I can only hope never enters into his vocabulary, but I can’t keep it from him forever, try as I would like) but I can hope that by introducing him to these concepts early in life they will instill in him an understanding that there is always an alternative to violent confrontation.

Alice Walker’s poetry goes a long way to creating this understanding. Her personification of “War” as an all-consuming, all-destroying, unthinking, uncaring entity while not original, is a wonderful way to introduce children to the dangers and after-effects of war. By placing people and things that children would care about (home, animals, mothers) in opposition to and menaced by War, Walker’s poem will catch a child’s attention and make them think about what War does to those people and place and things he or she would care about.

This is a book that I got from the library, but it is one that I desire in our home library because it is a book that needs to be read over and over again, and it is a book that every right-thinking and caring parent should desire to have in their home as well and one that they should read to their children on a regular basis. If we all do so, and if every child grows up with this poem in their collective conscious, I think it would make a change in the way that our children perceive the world around them.

This review can also be found at Bryan’s Book Blog