The Man Who Named the Clouds

By Julie Hanna, Joan Holub and Paige Billin-Frye

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Albert Whitman Company
• Release date: Feb 25, 2014
• ISBN: 9781480489219

Reviews for The Man Who Named the Clouds

[sarahetuemmler · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is about a man named Luke Howard who actually created the first practical scientific system for naming clouds. He was always curious about the different forms of clouds and began to examine them. This book is an example of historical fiction because Luke Howard is a real scientist in history. The story is based on a real person in history. This book had real samples of weather journals in it from different students. It showed their observations of how the weather changes. Luke Howard did the same types of observations with clouds. This book is all about the discovery of classifying clouds.

[nmikolay-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is a biography about a man by the name of Luke Howard, and how he became the man to create the system of classifying clouds. The book shares Luke’s life story from childhood to adulthood, but it keeps the reader captivated and wanting to read more. Along with the story, there are weather journals that touch on subjects like snow, fog, rain, wind, temperature, etc. It also breaks down the ten basic clouds in a way that is understandable. The pictures in the book are a great visual aid when trying to see the differences between the clouds. This book tells a great story and, along the way, makes learning about clouds enjoyable.

[strenshaw · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Man Who Named the Clouds is an extraordinary piece of nonfiction literature for an elementary student. The reading level at times may be difficult for younger children to understand because it gives such detailed information about the man who named the clouds. This book primarily talks about a man of the name Luke Howard that took the time when he was a young boy to observe clouds, which then became known as the man who named the clouds. An educator has to appreciate the significance of how the author can narrate the biography of Luke Howard in such an intriguing way. The illustrations are kid friendly and let the readers vividly see the life that Luke Howard lived. In this book the author includes an activity where children can keep their own weather journal like Luke Howard did. At a young age he kept his own journal about clouds because like most people he was curious about the weather and what caused clouds. The book does a wonderful job of switching back and forth on the biography of Luke Howard, and the key characteristics of clouds. An interesting piece of information was when Luke Howard was older he would paint pictures of clouds because they did not have names for them for him to write about. This was a great book for an educator to read in class because it does thoroughly describe Luke Howard’s life, and how important his contribution of naming the clouds was. This book does not overwhelm the reader with a lot of historical background on Luke Howard, but instead inserts fun activities and information about clouds to break up all the key events that take place in Luke Howard’s life.

[megan08m · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Man Who Named the Clouds by Julie Hannah and Joan Holub is a biography about a man named Luke Howard, who was born in 1772, started studying clouds as a hobby as a young boy. He kept a cloud journal describing all the different clouds he saw in the sky and the weather conditions that were going on at that time. As he grew up he created the first scientific system for naming clouds. In 1796 he joined a group call the Askesian Society where they talked science. It was there that Luke Howard introduced the different cloud types, such as Cirrus, Cumulus and Stratus.

[aengle_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good for grades 1-5. This is a very informative book that gives those who read it an idea about how to use weather patterns from the past to determine future weather just like the main character, hard-working Luke Howard. Luke Howard gave the clouds their names by observing certain types of characteristics that these clouds had commonly.