0 Z is for Zoe-Beans

Part of the A to Z blogging challege.
The challenge that started with A for Annabelle ends with Z for Zoe.

The Book:
Zoe and Beans - The Magic Hoop is written and illustrated by Chloe and Mick Inkpen - they are father-daughter duo.

The Bubble:
This book in the adorable Zoe and Beans series is about Zoe and her dog Beans who transforms himself into different things while jumping through her magic hoop. Zoe tempts her dog, Beans with some chocy bears to jump through the hoop- the magic hoop and that transforms Beans into a rabbit. Zoe is delighted having Beans as a rabbit . She can't wait and further tempts Beans to jump again offering some more Chocy Bears. Beans is now a mouse and she doesn't seem to like it.

She makes him jump again and he then becomes crocodile and then an elephant at the next attempt. While he jumps as a crocodile to become the BIG elephant - he gets stuck inside the hoop. Zoe then devises a plan for him to go on a diet with No chocy bears! Does, Beans the elephant stay away from Chocy Bears? Does Beans come out of the hoop and what does he come out as ? Himself, the dog? or anything else?

The illustrations are real pretty - the little girl, her adorable doggie , her Binky Boo and the multicolor hoop - Beautiful.

Bubble Ink's verdict:
We love how little ones love magic and can never have enough of it. We love the introduction of the twist in the story when the girl isn't liking the magic that the hoop is doing. We love love the illustrations.

We bought ours at the LightRoom bookstore. It is one of the books which you hadn't even heard of once before - neither the title nor the author/illustrator , but you buy at stores by flipping through the pages. Such books turn out to be some of our best buys!
We give it 4-bubbles

Bubbling's verdict:
Bubbling has watched some older kids play Hula-Hoop and she loves the illustrations in the book and names the different animals that Beans becomes in the story.
It is a bubbling-tantalizing-three.

0 Y is for Yay, You

Part of the A to Z challenge #atozchallenge

The Book:
Yay, You is by Sandra Boynton. 

The Bubble:
Perfectly sub-titled Moving Out, Moving up, Moving On!, the book is a perfect read for all ages. It is best suited when you are moving schools, graduating, moving cities, shifting jobs or for just a light read to liven up your mood.

It tells all the things that you want to hear to feel good about yourself, to feel confident about the decisions that you have made or yet to make and to feel just great about doing what you are doing. It lists many different options like map reading and travelling, going fast, going slow, loving art, Nothing preachy! 

Sample lines:
And whatever you do -
now or later,
big or small,
loud or quiet-
whatever you do,
don't worry.
Just try it.
Whatever you do,
whether near or so far,
I know you'll be great.

You already are!

Love, love those lines.

Bubble Ink's verdict:
A must read for every one. It was an adorable and touching read. Love the illustrations with the cute Pookie. When the most profound life's lessons are told with cute illustrations like these, who would think it is advice?

Love the page that says , 
Hey, What s the hurry anyhow?
There are places to get to, projects to do,
people to talk with and lunches to chew ,
but Stopping a while is ok , too ( this page has the Pookie, blowing bubbles - We love bubbles - blowing bubbles is the best thing on this earth, we believe).

Atleast one page or a line is sure to touch you in a way of "Been-there-felt-that" feeling or "just-what-i-wanted-to-hear" moment! 

A borrowed read.
A sure 5-bubbles.

Bubbling's verdict:
Since the book was a borrowed read , it was not read to the bubbling. My little bubbling isn't the age yet for this one! But am going to have her read this , for sure, whenever she is ready.
So no bubbling verdict on this one.

0 X is for X-Mas Pick : Welcome to Santa's Toy Shop

Part of the A to Z blogging challenge #atozchallenge.

The Book:
Welcome to Santa's Toy Shop is a pop-up storybook by Granddreams Limited.

The Bubble:
It is a perfect Christmas story for every child who dreams of Santa filling stockings with toys and leaving them under the Christmas tree. The story is of the elves helping Santa make toys - chiselling , hammering and painting to make engines, aeroplanes; stuffing and stitching to make stuffed toys. 

The illustrations are utterly cute with toys strewn all over, the little elves doing all the chores like stacking, the toys, painting them, relaxing with tea, snoozing and wrapping the gifts is a delight to watch. 

Bubble Ink's verdict:
A perfect Christmas story for even the youngest child who can delight in the colorful and cute illustrations; for the slightly older to make-believe how gifts end up under the Christmas tree. The book being a pop-up just makes it better.

We give it 4-bubbles. We bought ours at a book sale for a throwaway price. The book has not got any author or illustrator listed on it.

Bubbling's verdict:
This is her first popup book and she loves looking at the toys, counting the elves and all the Santa!
It is a bubbling-tantalizing-three.

0 W is for Where's Walrus?

Part of the A to Z blogging challenge #atozchallenge

The Book:
Where's Walrus is a wordless picture book by Stephen Savage.

The Bubble:
Where's Walrus is wordless and as in all wordless books, the story is left to the interpretation of the readers. The outline is a walrus which escapes the zoo and ventures out donning different hats , thus disguising himself as a princess, dancer, painter, fire fighter, builder and a diver. The zoo-keeper sets out on a mission to find the walrus - Does he succeed? Would he recognize the walrus in all his hats? Is the walrus playing a joke on him? Does the zoo keeper recognize him when the hat comes off? How does the hat come off? Does the walrus get back to the zoo in an all new form?

Bubble Ink's verdict:
We love wordless picture books. In this book, we love the stylish and witty illustrations - with the walrus looking super smart in all his disguises.
We love the painter disguise where the walrus draws the zoo-keeper!
We love the high-step dancer disguise of the walrus!
We love-love the diving walrus winning the medal!

Atleast one wordless is a must-have in your child's library. If your little one is into walruses and loves "find-where" books, this can take that place. 

We borrowed our copy from Hippocampus Bangalore.
We give it 4-bubbles.

Bubbling's verdict:
The bubbling loves most of the "Where's" books and this was read with a lot of enthusiasm too. It is a bubbling-tantalizing-three.

0 V is for Vir from The World of Anahi and Vir

Part of the A to Z blogging challenge #atozchallenge

The Book:
The world of Anahi and Vir is a series from Little Latitude. 
This is a review of "If I lived in a tree house" written by Kalpana Subramanian and illustrated by Prashant Miranda.

The Bubble:
The book is Anahi and Vir visualising what they would do if they lived in the different places like tree house, forest , a water pipe , a cave and so on. The illustrations are such a visual treat complemented well by the rhyming text. We love the imagination of Anahi and Vir who think up even a water pipe with mice stuck inside as house.  The book talks about homes like a pouch for the baby kangaroo, those weaved in the air as webs by spiders, grand kings' palaces and even the homeless monks too. It ends on a lovely note which drives home the message "Home is where the heart is". 

Sample Lines:
A home could be a pouch
Or it could be a shell
It could be spun around you
And no one can really tell.

Bubble Ink's verdict:
We love the entire series for its pretty water color illustrations, the whimsical impact that they leave on you and the simple , yet adorable rhyming text. There is some thing infectious about the illustrations in this book, something that touches you at every flip of the page.

Atleast one from this series is a must look-at!
We borrowed our copy from Hippocampus Bangalore.
We give it 4 bubbles.

Bubbling's verdict:
Bubbling loves the illustrations, we name all the pretty things on each page. She loves the tree house page with mangoes and banana and the page in which Vir hangs upside down like a monkey.
It is a bubbling-tantalizing-three.

0 U is for Up Down

Part of the A to Z Blogging challenge #atozchallenge

The Book:
Up Down is a bilingual written by Vinayak Varma.

The Bubble:
A cute little book about a little boy who is looking for the right companion to play see-saw with. Appu goes about asking the grasshopper, mouse and a dog only to realize that he is too heavy to play see-saw with them. While the grasshopper, mouse and the dog found him too heavy, the cow found his too light.

Bubble Ink's verdict:
We love the simplicity of the book and the beautiful illustrations with action words as each characters falls off the see-saw. After all the simple joys of childhood and the most beautiful memories of childhood are those of the delightful things like the see-saws!
We bought ours at the Tullika stall at the Chennai Book Fair.
We give it 4-bubbles.

Bubbling's verdict:
The bubbling loves her park visits and loves books with these sounds words like "aaa-wwwwww", "woooooooo". This is a bubbling-tantalizing-three.

0 T is for Twice my Size

Part of the A to Z blogging challenge = #atozchallenge

The Book:
Twice my Size is a book by Adrian Mitchell and illustrated by Daniel Pudles.

The Bubble:
This book starts with a tiny ladybird who meets a friend who is twice her size, the butterfly. The butterfly then meets a friends who is twice its size, bird. The bird then meets a squirrel who then meets a cat and so on. 

The illustrations on every page make for a guessing game for which animal is going to appear on the next. It is a great first book for its colorful illustrations and can grow well on the toddler - for the guessing game and to learn comparative sizes among animals. birds and insects. The text rhymes beautifully and describes what comes on the next page. 

Bubble Ink's verdict:
We love how the book ends  with the Sun being the biggest among all and the illustration that go with it, showing all the creatures introduced in the earlier pages on a single page around the BIG SUN. We also love the way the creatures are sequenced - cat meeting a dog, dog meeting a boy who then meets a girl , a horse, elephant , dolphin and finally the Sun!

We borrowed our copy from Hippocampus, Bangalore.
We give it 3-bubbles.

Bubbling's verdict:
Bubbling loves books with guessing games or I spy books. This is a very recent read for her - So no bubbling rating yet for this one.

0 S is for Sleepy Head

Part of the A to Z Blogging Challenge - #atozchallenge
S is for Sleepy Head

The Book:
Sleepyhead is written by Karma Wilson and illustrated by John Segal.

The Bubble:
The book is a bed time scene between a cat who tries to put a teddy bear to sleep. The narration has the dialogue between the two complemented well by the dreamy and imaginative illustrations. It starts with the teddy bear pleading for one more book to be read before going to sleep. The illustrations show books with pictures of cat, walrus, penguin, giraffe, dolphin strewn on the floor. The teddy bear delays bed time by asking for one more hug, one more kiss - one more of everything. The cat is shown to be losing patience with illustrations to indicate louder and sterner calls "go to sleep, It's time for bed".

The quilt that is spread out also has the same characters as in the books on the first page. From then on, the pleads for one more drink, one more snuggle, one more cuddle, one more blanky, one more stretch and one more yawn leading to the teddy bear falling asleep. The illustrations on each of these pleads show the cat begging, impatient and tired and the teddy bear happily taking plight in his own imagination in each of the characters on the quilt/book - the walrus in the quilt is tucked in the blanky, penguins from the book stretch and yawn, the dolphin in the book is used as a ride-on!

Sample text:
One more hug, says Sleepyhead.
Sleepyhead, Sleepyhead.
Now close your eyes,
my Sleepyhead.

We've kissed our kiss, your quilt is spread.
Go to sleep, It's time for bed.
One more kiss, says Sleepyhead.

Thus go the plead for one more of everything.

Bubble Ink's verdict:
It's an apt bed time read narrating and illustrating the deja-vu scene is most households before bed. We love how the illustrations show the tending-to-impatient cat and the undisturbed-by-that teddy bear . We love the dreamy effect, of how the characters in the quilt and the books read take life in the teddy's bear imagination as the cat calls out "Time for bed" and he pleads for "one more of everything". Such beauty in the details.

We love the giraffe page which has the cat stretching out a book to be read and the teddy bear whimsically sitting atop the giraffe saying "Just one more!".

When we say, picture books delight us - This is one of those books!

When you read this book to your Sleepyhead,
Be prepared for the plead,
One more time!

We borrowed our copy from Hippocampus, Bangalore.
We give it 4 bubbles.

Bubbling's verdict:
The bubbling enjoys the characters in the illustrations and tries to picture read them. It is a bubbling-tantalizing-three.

0 R is for Rosie's Walk

Part of the A to Z Blogging challenge #atozchallenge

The Book:
Rosie's Walk is written and illustrated by Pat Hutchins.

The Bubble:
The book is about a hen named Rosie who is going for a walk in the farm and the text narrates her path. The illustrations convey the plot where in Rosie is being followed by a fox who attempts to hunt her and ends up in mishaps. Does Rosie reach home safely or does she fall prey to the fox?


Bubble Ink's verdict:
We love these kind of picture books where the text narrates the obvious and the illustrations tell the plot and how some interpretations are left to the reader. Here, if Rosie is purposely leading the fox to those dangers or is she unaware of the fox following her is left to the reader. We love the look and feel of the illustrations which is a perfect farm setting with haycock, bee hives, flour mill and pond.

We bought ours at a book sale. We give it 4 bubbles.

Bubbling's verdict:
The bubbling repeats "Fox is going catch the hen" and "Aach-cha-cho, Fox fell Damaaal" alternatively on the illustrations. It is a bubbling-fab-four.

0 Q is for Quiet Loud

Part of the A to Z blogging challenge. #atozchallenge
We are loving how the A to Z challenge is giving a chance to review some of our most-loved books and we also love how some of our books like these fit into these tougher letters like Q, Y etc! We have already done a Leslie Patricelli and one more coming up for Y!

The Book:
Quiet Loud is written, hand lettered and illustrated by Leslie Patricelli.

The Bubble:
The book features on each spread a thing that is Quiet and the one that is Loud. We love the way the quiet and loud things are paired on the pages of the book. Whispering with Screaming, Fishes with doggies, Thinking with singing, Slippers with Mommy's shoes, Sniffles with Sneezes, Turtles with Monkeys, Birds with Airplanes - The choices to explain the quiet and loud are impressive. 

Bubble Ink's verdict:
Like we said here, the books featuring the one-haired bald baby are perfect first books. The objects and situations illustrated are so easy to relate from a very young age.
We highly recommend these for your child's library. Choose the one that best suits your baby's likes. 
We give this one 3-bubbles.

Bubbling's verdict:
The bubbling loves Huggy Kissy the best from the author and she could relate the fishy on this book with the fishy from the Huggy Kissy book. Such is the impact , the illustrations have on a child. Leslie Particelli's were one of her first board books. This particular book , Quiet Loud, is a bubbling-tantalizing-three.

0 P is for Pete the Cat

Part of the A to Z Blogging Challege. #atozchallenge 
The Book:
Pete the Cat, I love my white shoes is written by Eric Litwin and illustrated by James Dean. 
It is a series featuring Pete the cat, the coolest cat in the world of picture books. 

The Bubble:
The book is a story of a super cool cat - Pete who goes for a walk with his white shoes singing his song, "I love my white shoe". Along the way , he steps into strawberries , blueberries and mud turning his white shoes into red , blue and brown. 
Despite his shoes getting discoloured and dirty - Pete doesn't cry and keeps singing his song because it's all good. 
The story is in the form of a dialogue, hence makes a great interactive read aloud with the child. 

Sample lines 
"Oh No, Pete stepped into a pile of strawberries.
What color did it turn his shoes ? 
RED.
Did Pete cry?
Goodness No! 
He kept walking along and singing his song .
I love my RED shoes ,
I love my RED shoes,
I love my RED shoes. 

Bubble Ink's verdict:
Great illustrations , repetitive text, a sing-along verse within the book and a cute story and message weaved in - this one can easily become one of your child's first books to be picture read , well before knowing letters and sounds. 

We bought ours at a book sale. We give it 5-bubbles. 

Bubbling's verdict: 
One of the books that was an instant hit on the very first read itself. The bubbling loves singing along and dancing to the verse "I love my white shoes ". It is , without any doubt , a bubbling-full-five. 

Buy your copy from Amazon or Flipkart. 

0 O is for Olivia

The Book:
Olivia is a series by Ian Falconer and is centered around a pig named Olivia who is bubbly, enthusiast and is always up for adventure. 
Olivia is a Caldecott honor book in 2001.

This is a review of Olivia and the missing toy. 

The Bubble: 
The book begins with Olivia on a camel in Egypt in a dream and is being woken up for soccer practice. Olivia has a favourite stuffed toy which she takes along everywhere.

Olivia misplaces her toy and frantically searches the entire house for it, under every possible thing, asking her little brother , baby brother , but just doesn't  find it anywhere. She goes to sleep terribly upset. At night, she figures out that her dog has chewed the toy to bits. Though the toy is fixed back, Olivia is very angry with the dog and declares that even her bed time stories should not have dogs. Toddler anger tantrums! 
The ending is super cute to show how children forget such things so easily and Olivia is seen cuddled in bed with the toy and her dog. Toddler anger tantrum, Ta-da gone! 

Bubble Ink's verdict:
We loved the beautiful ending. The illustrations are adorable in black and white and patches of green and red. The story shows the entire Olivia family and we love how each family member has a part in the story. 

We bought ours at the flipkart.com 50% off sale a couple of months back. 
We give it 4 bubbles. 

Bubbling's verdict :
Stories about things missing are a sure bubbling hit. Have you seen my duckling , Knuffle Bunny and this one are in that category. 
She squeals and reads aloud the "dog tore the toy into bits" line. It is a bubbling-fab-four. 

0 N is for No No, Yes Yes

Part of the A to Z blogging challenge. #atozchallenge

The Book:
No No , Yes Yes is written , illustrated and hand-lettered by Leslie Patricelli.

The Bubble:
The book , like all other Leslie's works features the one-haired bald baby. Each spread in this book shows the baby doing an action that is a No-No and then doing it in the yes-yes way. No is one of the early words said by a baby and this book can sure aid and enhance that. The pages show all sorts of activities that make up a toddler's day to day life. Harming a pet is a No-No and patting it to sleep is a Yes-Yes. Running on the road is a No-No, holding Papa's hand while on the road is a Yes-yes. 

Bubble Ink's verdict :
This book can be a successful first book in a child's library for many a reason. First, it is a board book which is sturdy for first timers. Second , it has got illustrations that are everyday things for babies to easily relate to. Third, it grows with your child , for the youngest baby, the colors and the illustrations appeal ; for the older toddler, it is an almost wordless book for them to picture read. 
So it is a baby-board book for babies from 3 months to 3 years. 
We give it 4 bubbles. 

Bubbling's verdict: 
We are Leslie Particelli fans. This is one of her first board books. She sure loves the one-haired baby from all of Leslie's works. It is a bubbling-tantalizing-three.

0 M is for Matilda's Cat

Part of the A to Z challenge #atozchallenge

The Book:
Matilda's Cat is written and illustrated by Emily Gravett.

The Bubble:
The book is about the girl named Matilda and her cat. The text in the book reads that Matilda's Cat likes a host of things like playing with wool,  with boxes, with hats, while the illustrations show Matilda's cat either intimidated by those things or not caring least about them. The illustrations also show Matilda dressed up like a cat herself doing all those things herself, in an attempt to figure out what her cat likes. In every subsequent page, the previous liking is crossed out to indicate that her cat doesn't actually like it. But, why does the cat still stick around despite not liking any of those things that the narration claims or that Matilda does?

Bubble Ink's verdict:
We love the illustrations, specifically the richness of details on each spread. The page that reads Matilda's cat loves bed time stories has Matilda reading the book "Dogs" , pointing her finger such that her shadow shows up as a dog which scares the hell out of the cat.  Dogs book being read, shows up as Dog shadow to get across the message that Cats are afraid of dogs and so does Matilda's cat! What attention to detail that! 

We love Emily Gravett for her wit , her beautiful illustrations and the style that is so uniquely hers!
We bought ours at the Lightroom Bookstore in Bangalore. The name 'Emily Gravett' and a quick flip through the beautiful hand lettered text and the illustrations were enough to pick this book up.
We give it 4 bubbles.

Bubbling's verdict:
The bubbling loves the illustrations : the page with Matilda playing with wool and the funky hats are her favourites. She calls Matilda in her cat coat as Cat too :). Points to the illustrator for that!
It is a bubbling-tantalizing-three.

0 L is for Lettice

Part of the A to Z challenge - #atozchallenge

The Book:
The book Lettice is written and illustrated by Mandy Stanley is a story of Lettice the rabbit, who wishes to fly. 

The Bubble:
The book is about a rabbit called Lettice who loved to fly. Lettice not only had a dream to fly but also tried hard for that dream - she practiced flapping her wings , arms, ears and even her whiskers and tail only to realize that rabbits can't fly. But she "chased" her dream and it come true. She went behind the pink air plane that she found, sat on it and she did get to fly and gets to see the whole world from up above. 

The illustrations are pretty with the rabbit and the cute pink air plane - there is nothing not to love about them.

Bubble Ink's verdict:
It is a beautiful story about dreams coming true. Like in this book, if there is something that you really want or love, the whole universe will conspire to get that thing to you. The universe brought a remote controlled toy airplane for this little rabbit to fly! Dreams do come true ! 

We bought our copy at a book sale - without knowing the author or the name of the book by just flipping through the pretty illustrations. "Some bunny is cute - and yes, Lettice was just too cute to not pick the book up". 
Just realized that there is a series with Lettice the rabbit : Flying rabbit, dancing rabbit, Dance with me, All about me. 
We give it 3 bubbles.

Bubbling's verdict:
Bubbling's favourites has aeroplanes and bunnies so the book was a good read. 
It is a bubbling-tantalizing-three.

0 K is for Knuffle Bunny

Part of the A to Z blogging challenge #atozchallenge

The Book:
Knuffle Bunny is a set of 3 books surrounding the bunny toy of a girl named Trixie written by Mo Willems.

Knuffle Bunny - A cautionary tale - Caldecott Honor - 2005
Knuffle Bunny Too - Caldecott Honor - 2008

This post is a review of Knuffle Bunny Free - the last in the series.

The Bubble:
The series is about a girl called Trixie whose favourite toy is her Knuffle Bunny. Trixie keeps misplacing her Knuffle Bunny in every story in the series.

In Knuffle Bunny Free - Trixie goes on a trip to her grandparents' and loses her Knuffle Bunny in the plane. She terribly misses her bunny throughout her stay - No new toy, no new places  or park visits seem to do the trick for Trixie to forget Knuffle Bunny and she is terribly upset. She then dreams of the Knuffle Bunny being on this trip with her and all the fun that they have together and the dream makes her feel a little better.
Much to her delight , Trixie finds Knuffle Bunny on her flight back - But would Trixie part with Knuffle Bunny and set it free ? For whom?

The illustrations are an absolute delight - they show the everyday scene of park visits, swing plays, coffee shops, airport in a way that a toddler can relate to them really easily.

Bubble Ink's verdict:
This is our verdict for the entire series.
We love how the series spans the growth of Trixie over the three books. The first one in the series shows Trixie ,a "not-yet" talking toddler tirelessly trying to convey to her father only to annoy him more with her babbles and the mother perfectly understanding her message by just the look on her face. The second one shows the "possessive" Trixie who can't accept another classmate having a toy similar to hers and the frustrated Trixie when she mistakenly brings her friend's Knuffle Bunny instead of hers. The third and the finale one shows the now "kind-and-sharing" Trixie learning to part with her favourite Knuffle Bunny for a younger child. Thus the name, Knuffle Bunny Free. We love the story.
A must read . So much for the toddler to relate to in the illustrations and the story line.

We give the entire series 5-bubbles.

We have 2 of the series and bought them at Flipkart.com and bookadda.com and borrowed one from Hippocampus, Bangalore.
If Bengaluru residents need a copy of this, the Lightroom Bookstore has the 2nd and 3rd in the series.

Bubbling's verdict:
Bubbling and I actually read the series in reverse order. Knuffle Bunny Free was our first read. Though I was wary about it not being age appropriate for her, it was an instant hit. It also happens to be her favourite in the series. She could relate very well to trips to visit her own grandparents in train, visits to parks and the likes.
She picture reads the pages like "Trixie crying" , "Knuffle Bunny missing", "Appa, upset "  and has also asked her own dad when he takes that upset pose - "Appa, why upset"?.
It is a bubbling-full-five for the entire series.

0 J is Junior Kumbhakarna

Part of the A to Z blogging challenge #atozchallenge

The Book:

The book "Junior Kumbhakarna" written by Arundhati Venkatesh and illustrated by Shreya Sen is a story of Kumbhakarna who loves to eat and sleep.

The Bubble:
The book is a story within a story. A story -loving  little boy  , Kukku asks for the story of Kumbhakarna to be told to him at bed time. The dad narrates the story of this food loving, sleep loving giant who eats a heavy meal and goes off into deep slumber. So does Kuku. The rest of the story is Kuku's dream.

Kukku dreams of how a herd of donkeys, trumpets, drums, animals, birds and elephants walking on the giant attempt to wake the giant up.  Even food in the form of laddoos is brought to awaken the giant. The sound , the smell of food nothing has an effect on the sleeping giant.

What wakes the giant up? What brings the little Kuku out of his dream?

Bubble Ink's verdict:
We loved the details in the illustrations which shows how the little boy, Kuku goes to sleep midway through the story as does the Kumbhakarna in the story being told. Wordless message, that for the reader.

Lovely illustrations, mythology, humorous and a easy to relate story line, love for stories, the impact of stories on a child's dream and the power of a dream in a child's everyday life - (even if as trivial as asking for a laddoo) - all packed well into the book!

The Kuku's sleep scene is "deja-vu" in many a household with book loving children - who demand a book to be read or a story to be told again and again at bed time. You won't be surprised if this book takes that place to be read again and again in your household.

We bought ours at Atta Galatta at the book launch and our copy is signed by the author herself.
We give it 4 bubbles.

Bubbling's verdict:
Giggling away to glory is what the bubbling did every time we read the book. The bubbling at 2,  doesn't yet relate to the dreamy effect of the story but sure loves the illustrations and picture reads few pages - the frightened birds and animals scene, the elephant troupe scene.
It is a bubbling-fab-four.

0 I is for If you give a

Part of the A to Z blogging challenge #atozchallenge

I is for If you..Series.

The Book:
"If you give a Mouse a Cookie" is written by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond.

The Bubble:
The book is a story of a mouse being offered a cookie and the things that follow - perfectly done with some great illustrations with a lot of attention to detail. The scenes in the household , the illustrations  shown perfect in size with the mouse appearing tiny on one spread with the boy and in enlarged size on the other spread are so perfect for your little one to visualize it.

The story begins with the boy offering a mouse a cookie, which results in the mouse's endless demands which the mischievous boy ends up catering to and ends in the house being a (beautiful) mess.

The mouse  starting with wanting milk to go with the cookie, to look in the mirror to clean up the milk mustache, asking for a hair trim, asking to nap, asking to be read to sleep - Each one leads to the other in perfect sync and the demands the mouse makes are definitely instances which any child and parent can relate to.  The book ends with the mouse being given a cookie again...So does it all being again?

Sample lines:
..
with a blanket and a pillow.

He'll crawl in, 
make himself comfortable
and fluff the pillow a few times.
He'll probably ask you to read him a story.

So you'll read to him from one of your books,
and he'll ask to see the pictures.

When he looks at the pictures.....
....

Bubble Ink's verdict:
The entire series with beautiful illustrations and the incidents that can be easily related to bring a smile to the picture book lover in me, every single time I read it.
If you read the book to a toddler, it will will sure have the toddler call out some demands too. Be prepared.

We love the page in the "If you give a Mouse.." - where boy gets the mom's beauty powder box for the mouse to nap in and the mouse fluffs the puff! It's such a pretty illustration. The boy emptying the beauty powder and box and the mouse snuggling inside it.

In the style of the book itself..

If you read this book once to your child,
He/She will want you to read it again and again.

So you will begin to read it again , you ll be stopped midway 
your child will ask to try one of the things 
that is happening in the book.

While you set out to fetch that thing for your child and return
she would have now turned the book to page one - for you to start again.

We give it 5 bubbles. 
We bought all that we have in the series on Book Sales here, there and everywhere.

Bubbling's verdict:
The bubbling loves the illustrations and we spend a lot of time discussing the details on the illustrations on each spread of the book.  She tries to picture read some of the pages and giggles at the page where the mouse is being read a book to and drawing with crayons. She relates the mouse in this book with the "Happy Birthday Mouse " from the same author . This one is a bubbling-fab-four.. 

0 H is for Hippo

Part of the A to Z challenge - #atozchallenge

H is for Hippo is a round up of books on Hippopotamus and our favourite Hoo, The Hippo.

The Hippo books in this round up are :
But not the Hippopotamus - Sandra Boynton
Hippo Has a Hat - Julia Donaldson - Already reviewed here. - which is a bubbling-full-five.

Hippos can be made to appear cute only on picture books. Here is our review of But not the Hippopotamus - by Sandra Boynton.

The Book:
But not the Hippopotamus is a book written by Sandra Boynton and is a story of a Hippopotamus and his other animal friends.

The Bubble:
The book is in perfect Boynton style excellent rhyme and the illustrations amusing. This book is a host of events that a hog and frog, cat and rat, moose and a goose and bear and  hare are upto. But not the hippopotamus! The illustrations are so expressive, the rolling-eyes hippo on every page is utterly cute.  

Sample lines: 
A moose and a goose
Together have juice.
But not the hippopotamus.

A bear and a hare
have been to a fair.
But not the hippopotamus.

There is a simple story weaved in as well which helps the child relate the fun things that the animals try out. Will the Hippopotamus join the animal fun? Who is this armadillo now?

Bubble Ink's verdict:
Atleast one Sandra Boynton is a must buy for your child's library. We love the rhyme, we love the wit and her trademark illustrations.

We give this one 4 bubbles.
We bought our copy on Flipkart.com 

Bubbling's verdict:
The hippo is one of the bubbling's favourite characters. She loves the text and tries to say "But not the Hippo?" Why? . The book, however was not an instant hit with the bubbling. This, but, is just my bubbling's view. It sure will delight many hippo lovers.

It is a bubbling-tantalizing-three.

While on the letter H, we can't wrap the post up without talking about one other Hippo, that is our favourite. Hoo, The Hippo - Hippocampus Children's library. 
It is a book-lover's paradise. We have borrowed some much longer for wish list items from here the last couple of months. While the bubbling enters in all joy squealing "So many books, Amma", we have also sometimes come back with the bubbling not wanting to return the book borrowed the previous time.
We love our late afternoon trips to the Hippocampus, Bangalore centre.

H is for Hoo, the Hippo and Hugs to Hoo! And Hoo, the Hippo is nothing short of a Bubbling-Ten-on-Ten!

0 G is for Gajapati Kulapati

Part of the A to Z blogging challenge. #atozchallenge

The Book:
Gajapati Kulapati is a book written and illustrated by Ashok Rajagopolan. 

The Bubble:
The book is a story about a temple elephant who catches cold by getting wet in the rain. 
As the book reads,
"Small noses catch small colds.
Big noses catch big colds.
Gajapati Kulapati had a big nose and he caught
a big cold"

-And thus a Big Sneeze!
That big sneeze offsets the banana seller, the postman and even a cow. Gajapati feels upset about it and when he wants to say sorry - they all fled at the fright of another sneeze. 
The book has got the perfect Indian village illustrated well with words like Aachoo for sneeze, Damaal for falling which will surely calls for joyous squealing with toddlers .
With a lot of repetitive text it is perfect for early readers too.

Bubble Ink's verdict:
The book is hilarious. We love how the gentleness and kindness of the elephant is brought out in the story with Gajapati Kulapati feeling sad about upsetting the postman, banana seller and the crowd and how the villagers display an act of kindness to him by not letting him get wet again. Lovely gesture that for their much loved animal.

We borrowed our copy from Hippocampus, Bangalore.
We give it 4 bubbles.

Bubbling's verdict:
We read it this book for the first time when the bubbling was herself having a cold. Perfect timing! She kept giggling throughout the read fighting her sniffles with her runny nose and acting out the Gajapati Kulapati sneezes. She loves the "Aachoo....Pachaak...Damaal..mmmBaaa" bits.

Me:(points to the elephant on cover page) - What is the elephant's name?
Bubbling: "Anganna" - read as Ranganna.
Me:(smiling, points to the same elephant again. This time changing the Q) - Who is this?
Bubbling : "Gajapati Kulapati" (flip open the book and does aaaachooo..)

It is a bubbling-full-five.
We are waiting for G-K-2

0 F is Flip, Flap, Fly

Part of the A to Z Blogging challenge. #atozchallenge

The Book:
Flip, Flap, Fly written by Phyllis Root illustrated by David Walker, is a book about baby animals , baby birds learning a skill from their moms.

The Bubble:
The book features mom-baby pairs as they bond with the mom helping them with a skill. It starts with flying for the baby bird, swimming for the baby fish, wiggling for the baby snake and ending aptly with the mama teaching kissing for the baby child! The book is aptly marked on the title as "A book for babies everywhere". Brilliant in its rhyme, delightful in its illustrations of all the baby animals, enjoyable with its game of guessing the baby animal on the next page , the book is a treat in every way.

Sample lines:
..Past the purple, purple irises
blooming in the muck.
"Look!" barks the baby otter.
"I see a...
"DUCK!"
"Paddle!" quacks the baby duck.
"Paddle and skedaddle!"
So the mama helps the baby duck
polly 
       wolly
               paddle!


Bubble Ink's verdict:
This is one of the books that we picked from the library without having heard of it but by sneaking a peek at it. It was so worth the pick.

Your little one will surely rejoice seeing all the baby animals on the last page and would go, in rhyme,

As you both cuddle sitting in a nook,
Look,says your little one 
I see a Book!
"Read" says your little one.
"Snuggle with me and read"
So the mamma helps the little one ,
To read, read, read.

Lot of kisses guaranteed!

We borrowed ours from Hippocampus, Bangalore.
We give it 5 bubbles.

Bubbling's verdict:
The bubbling loves babies. She took to this book immediately, loved the rhyme and the last page with all babies. She squeals while trying to guess the baby animal on the next page.
It's a bubbling-fab-four.

0 Blow a Book Bubble : A picture book exchange party

What is a Picture Book exchange party?

It is where book lovers exchange books among themselves as gifts.

What inspired this?

I have read about such exchange events in the blog world among enthusiasts in a similar area and wanted to facilitate one myself. 
I was part of a picture book exchange meet recently where participants could take back a book from what others have brought and the rest went for charity. I loved the enthusiasm with the kids themselves or the parents went back picking up their favourite one among the lot. 
Last but not the least, having met a lot of picture book enthusiasts who are always on the look out for books or book sales, this was a good gesture to do among them.

Though I am extremely possessive about my books, I have personally quite a few books that are not yet my daughter's age and wouldn't mind parting with it for a passionate book lover who would love to have it for their child. When am on books sales which have books at a throw away price, I end up picking up multiple copies for friends who would like to have it. This was a good way to pass on such books.

How does it work?

All those who are interested in being part of the event will need to register themselves using the form here. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-TfdQD_pDteOpVtymXq2kF-TZdQAIYxrhjy5HaT3Rd0/viewform.

When you register, you agree to ship/hand over a book to one other participant and will also receive a book from someone else. We will make sure that every registered participant sends and receives a book. The book charges / shipping charges will have be borne by the sender. Try to keep the budget less than 300 INR. Exceptions to this budget is an individual choice and can be worked with the sender/receiver.

What books would I need to send?

You can send a new book. You can buy it at a book store/book sale/ ship it directly to the recipient's address through an online website like flipkart.com or amazon.in. 

You can also send an used book. I know we are all possessive about our books. But, if there is a book that your child has outgrown or your child is too young for and you are willing to part with it in exchange for something that you might get, sending an used book is an option too.

The book that is sent can be chosen in mutual agreement with the recipient depending on what the recipient might already have or what books are easily available to you to give away or to buy. If you can procure a recipient's wish list item, it would be the best thing. But, suit your convenience and ship whatever suits you best. Just only ensure that the recipient doesn't already have it.

How does the sender/ recipient work?

We will ensure that each participant has a sender and a recipient. If you have got any preferences on whom you would like to exchange for logistics of shipping reasons, do let us know. If you don't have a preference, we will choose a sender/recipient for you by keeping in mind the books that you wish to send/receive. The one who sends to you might be the same as the one who receives from you or you might be chosen to send to someone different from whom you receive from.

The fun lies in shipping it or receiving it from someone you haven't known before.

What do I do after receiving the book?

If you have a blog, you can blog about the book you received. Else, come to the Bubble Ink page to tell us how you liked the book. There will be badges to put up on your blog or FB profiles or FB timelines during the event.

When do I need to do this?

We are open for registrations till April 20,2014. The sender/receiver pairing will be announced before April 22^nd. The last day for shipping the books will be May 15. You can ship the book before that but no later than May 15 2014.

Who all can participate?

Any picture look lover who is willing to send one and receive one book can participate. We are currently restricting this to Indian residents keeping in mind the shipping costs. However, if an international participant is really interested, write to us, we will try our best to work out an exchange partner for you. If we get another participant from the same country you are in, we'll pair you up accordingly. If as a participant residing in India, you are willing to ship internationally, please let us know to facilitate the international participants.

Any questions please leave a comment here or write to bubbleink.writes@gmail.com