The Man Who Named the Clouds

by Julie Hanna, Joan Holub

In 1782, when Luke Howard was ten, he began keeping a weather journal to describe what he saw in the sky--he especially loved to watch the clouds. As an adult, Luke wanted to classify clouds, though many others had failed at this.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Picture Books, Childrens, History, Biography

40 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Margaret Chind · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty great

This picture book, as an ebook, has been formatted incorrectly as a comic book for double tap and swipe instead of the picture book text enlargement. It is okay however, because the text is large enough to view, at least on the 10" Kindle Fire. The book itself is delightful! The text is informative and educational. The combination of illustrations met with pictures and historical photos is great. I wouldn't hesitant to add this as a physical book to your shelves and might go for the Kindle ebook. I read this as a borrow from Kindle Unlimited, oddly not Kindle FreeTime Unlimited (Kids+).

[Two Hearts Homeschool · Rating 3 out of 5]

Considering how long I waited to find a copy of this book for under $5 including shipping, it was underwhelming. Has a very “Scholastic” (and not the old good Scholastic of the pre-1980s) feel. 3.5 at a pinch.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a detailed account of a man who named the clouds and developed the basic concept for the different classifications. I thought it was fascinating that there were different naming conventions that competed, but that his eventually won out. I also thought it was neat that Mr. Howard had an entirely unrelated career and that watching the weather was merely a hobby.

The narrative is rather detailed and we had to read this book in parts. The interspersed weather observations tracking the weather over the span of a school year is interesting, but somewhat detracts from the flow of the book. The illustrations are very good and we loved the inclusion of Mr. Howard's own paintings. Overall, this is an interesting and educational story. We enjoyed reading it together.

[Portia H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book for elementary school children interested in science and meteorology that suggests the significance of observation as a discipline utilized by scientists and curious thinkers as well as journaling. The easy to read picture book also provides great kid-friendly descriptions of real-life experiments by children that young readers can relate to, connect with or explore on their own.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable biography with useful discussion of how clouds are formed and what the different kinds look like. We started identifying clouds outside right away.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like science books that bring a real life view of the people behind it. I can attach people, time and place to a time line that helps to visualize sciencific discoveries in a different perspective.
Luke Howard is a real person born in 1772 that enjoyed the world around him and was curious about it and methodical enough to record his weather observations. The fact that he was old enough to experience the effects of the Iceland volcano in 1783 and the see a meteor soon after gave him a life long interest in weather watching, even though he had to pursue it as a hobby. But he seriously pursued his hobby resulting in a classification for clouds that eventually became the standard classification system used today. And you thought that learning Latin and Greek words was a pain, take that my kiddos.
I also was pleased that the running the modern weather journals and the suggestions on how to make weather instruments ran parallel to Luke's story. Something you can include or skip depending on age and interest. Even a young student can note the day of the month on a calendar and record the weather with stickers. It's fun to look back and count cloudy, sunny or rainy days.

[Anna Mock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book is really phenomenal for teaching about clouds and weather journaling. This is a great one to keep in a home library. There is a lot of great information in it, MUCH more than just info about the names of clouds. In fact, the book is much less about clouds than it is about Luke Howard and the times he lived in.

[Stacy Renee (LazyDayLit) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great resource about the clouds and who named them.

Read for our 1st grade Science curriculum unit about clouds.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an interesting book about the man who worked out a naming system for clouds.
It is the biography of Luke Howard who was fascinated about clouds from his boyhood and made it his serious hobby. His method of cloud naming is what is used today. In this book is some information about different clouds and what weather they bring.
Great illustrations.
I chose this book for the 52 Book Club reading challenge's Summer Genre Challenge, genre Non-Fiction.

[Steve_sonderman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the book told an interesting story, and had a lot of information. The book contains a bibliography and several detailed pictures. I think the book loses its continuity when the "My weather journal" comes in and presents a students perspective of weather. I think the weather journal hurt the flow of the biography. Overall, the book was informative and could be used in a biography unit. It was interesting to learn about the different types of clouds.

[Nikki]

IL: LG
BL: 5.6

This would be a great book to include in science area. It i a story about the man who created the cloud classification system.

[Teri · Rating 3 out of 5]

nice narrative, but really long! Great supplement to learning stratus, cumulous, cirrus. . .

[Amy Yount · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chapter 4 recommended reading