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Clouds For Dinner
Janet is not happy with her home on top of the hill and wishes to live in a normal house like the one belonging to her aunt and uncle, but when something special occurs, she realizes that her parents, with their home in the clouds, are the perfect people with whom to share it.
- GenresPicture BooksChildrens
Hardcover
24 people want to read
About the author
Lynne Rae Perkins
25 books176 followersLynne Rae Perkins is the author of several novels, including her most recent Newbery Award winning book, Criss Cross. She enjoys working in her studio, being with friends, watching her kids grow, and watching her husband, Bill, chase their dog around town.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 1, 2015
I wonder how much of Lynne Rae Perkins's own childhood was reflected in Clouds for Dinner, the second book of her career. The carefree artistic lifestyle of young Janet's parents in the story would be conducive to bringing up a writer/illustrator, and the physical resemblance between Lynne Rae Perkins and Janet's family is unmistakable. Regardless of how much of the story is autobiographical, Clouds for Dinner decisively demonstrated that its creator was no literary flash in the pan: The artwork is fantastic, arguably the best ever done by Lynne Rae Perkins, and the narrative is subtle, sweet, and honest, a model of simplicity the author would continue to use in her later novels and picture books. One can see the potential for greatness in these pages, and an appraisal of Lynne Rae Perkins's later works shows that this potential did not go unfulfilled.
Janet's family is no typical suburban outfit. Their house is positioned at the top of eighty-seven stairs to maximize the view of Lake Opagwah out back, peeking through the trees in all its sparkling glory. The family gathers regularly atop their backyard on a hill to admire blazing sunsets and exotic swirling cloud formations breezing across the sky, never to be duplicated exactly as they appear in that moment for the rest of human history. They eat dinner if and when they get around to it, sometimes electing instead to nibble on snacks until everyone's appetite has been sated without a formal supper. It's a comfortable way of life, and Janet likes it, but she sometimes wishes her family could be a bit more traditional, with routine sit-down dinners and the neat housekeeping she observes in her Aunt Peppy and Uncle Tim's house. When Janet's aunt and uncle call to invite her to stay with their family for a few days, she's excited for the chance to spend time in a more typical domestic environment. Now she'll get a taste of what it's like in a normal family.
Living in a carefully coordinated household is an agreeable change for Janet. Her boy cousins are friendly and allow her to play basketball with them, and the family's hospitality overall is pleasant, with her aunt making sure Janet gets everything she needs to have an enjoyable stay. Janet starts wondering if she might prefer living with her aunt and uncle all the time, with their dependable rules and schedules, and most everything about the house neat and tidy. But when she awakens to a wondrous sunrise on the final morning of her visit, Janet's first impulse is to tell her mother so they can take in the naturally colorful show together. Aunt Peppy isn't nearly as impressed with the rosy bloom of earliest dawn. Heading home in the car after her mother picks her up, Janet internally reflects on the differences between their families and recognizes that though there are parts of both lifestyles to cherish, she wouldn't want to be away from her own messy, artsy family for long. Life can be sloppy and unkempt and disorganized, but appreciation of its beauty doesn't grow on trees, and Janet realizes she's proud to have a family that will stand together outside for hours admiring the fireworks show of nature. Life lasts only so long, and we must make of it what we can, while we can. Our shared moments of understanding the profundity of that truth draw us together like no other feeling in the universe.
The story and artwork of Clouds for Dinner are tailor-made for each other, and I would definitely give the book two and a half stars. Lynne Rae Perkins as illustrator may never have been better: Her panorama of the eighty-seven steps leading up to Janet's house and the huge yard filled with a wide variety of greens and shrubbery looking out over the lake is marvelous. Her renderings of the clouds when the family is watching them are amazing, and better still are the wistful drawings of the pink-hued clouds on the book's endpapers, which set a suitably poignant tone for Clouds for Dinner that lasts the whole book through. It reinforces the story's message of how precious and limited our time on earth with loved ones is, a feeling that lingers in the heart after one has finished the book. Clouds for Dinner is one of Lynne Rae Perkins's best, and I hope her fans continue to find and read it. This is a special book by a unique author/illustrator, and we're fortunate to have it.
Janet's family is no typical suburban outfit. Their house is positioned at the top of eighty-seven stairs to maximize the view of Lake Opagwah out back, peeking through the trees in all its sparkling glory. The family gathers regularly atop their backyard on a hill to admire blazing sunsets and exotic swirling cloud formations breezing across the sky, never to be duplicated exactly as they appear in that moment for the rest of human history. They eat dinner if and when they get around to it, sometimes electing instead to nibble on snacks until everyone's appetite has been sated without a formal supper. It's a comfortable way of life, and Janet likes it, but she sometimes wishes her family could be a bit more traditional, with routine sit-down dinners and the neat housekeeping she observes in her Aunt Peppy and Uncle Tim's house. When Janet's aunt and uncle call to invite her to stay with their family for a few days, she's excited for the chance to spend time in a more typical domestic environment. Now she'll get a taste of what it's like in a normal family.
Living in a carefully coordinated household is an agreeable change for Janet. Her boy cousins are friendly and allow her to play basketball with them, and the family's hospitality overall is pleasant, with her aunt making sure Janet gets everything she needs to have an enjoyable stay. Janet starts wondering if she might prefer living with her aunt and uncle all the time, with their dependable rules and schedules, and most everything about the house neat and tidy. But when she awakens to a wondrous sunrise on the final morning of her visit, Janet's first impulse is to tell her mother so they can take in the naturally colorful show together. Aunt Peppy isn't nearly as impressed with the rosy bloom of earliest dawn. Heading home in the car after her mother picks her up, Janet internally reflects on the differences between their families and recognizes that though there are parts of both lifestyles to cherish, she wouldn't want to be away from her own messy, artsy family for long. Life can be sloppy and unkempt and disorganized, but appreciation of its beauty doesn't grow on trees, and Janet realizes she's proud to have a family that will stand together outside for hours admiring the fireworks show of nature. Life lasts only so long, and we must make of it what we can, while we can. Our shared moments of understanding the profundity of that truth draw us together like no other feeling in the universe.
The story and artwork of Clouds for Dinner are tailor-made for each other, and I would definitely give the book two and a half stars. Lynne Rae Perkins as illustrator may never have been better: Her panorama of the eighty-seven steps leading up to Janet's house and the huge yard filled with a wide variety of greens and shrubbery looking out over the lake is marvelous. Her renderings of the clouds when the family is watching them are amazing, and better still are the wistful drawings of the pink-hued clouds on the book's endpapers, which set a suitably poignant tone for Clouds for Dinner that lasts the whole book through. It reinforces the story's message of how precious and limited our time on earth with loved ones is, a feeling that lingers in the heart after one has finished the book. Clouds for Dinner is one of Lynne Rae Perkins's best, and I hope her fans continue to find and read it. This is a special book by a unique author/illustrator, and we're fortunate to have it.
May 28, 2009
The message of this book is sweet and simple: there is no place like home. I enjoyed seeing the little girl see the world through a new set of eyes and learn to appreciate what was right there in front of her. I would recommend.
*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2009...
*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2009...
September 2, 2013
A sweet story with lovely illustrations!
November 19, 2013
Lynne Rae Perkins captured my adolescence in Criss Cross, and in this book she's captured my childhood.
April 2, 2018
Rachel seemed to like this book, even though I think that it was slightly above her reading level.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews