0 E is for Eric Rohmann : My Friend Rabbit : Review

Part of the A to Z authors Illustrators

E is for Eric Rohmann

Pic Coutesy:http://www.ericrohmann.com/

Eric Rohmann
Winner of the Caldecott Medal for My Friend Rabbit is an author and illustrator.

Books that Bubble Ink has read :
My Friend Rabbit

Books read to the Bubbling:
My Friend Rabbit

Bubble Ink pick:
My Friend Rabbit

Bubbling Pick:
My Friend Rabbit

Some more that we think are great:
Oh! No.

We will review My Friend Rabbit.

The Book:
My Friend Rabbit is written and illustrated by Eric Rohmann and is a Caldecott Medal winner for 2003.

#CaldecottCollector s click on image to Buy Now or on Flipkart here
The Bubble:
The book is about a Rabbit and a Mouse who are friends. Rabbit though means all well gets into trouble with everything he does.
The Mouse gives his airplane to the rabbit to play invites big trouble for him. The airplane gets stuck. Rabbit, again, meaning only well, gets animals one by one for the mouse to reach the tree, he himself lifts the animals up to get the airplane out. He has the most awesome ideas always! He plans to get the animals one on top of the other and he climbs a top of all of them, he holding a squirrel and the squirrel holding the mouse to fetch the airplane out of the tree branch.
The animals all tumble down except rabbit , who again meaning well saves the mouse by holding onto the airplane with the mouse abroad. And the end is hilarious.

Bubble Ink's verdict:
We love the lovely illustrations in this book. The animals are illustrated in an unique way and the teeny-weeny rabbit carrying the huge animals is cuteness overload. A beautiful story of friendship can be told in the most humorous and playing way only through picture books. Caldecotts are Caldecotts not without a reason.

We picked this book up from Hippocampus Bangalore without paying attention to the medal (not sure how the nonCaldecott obsessed me missed it, then ) on the cover but liking the illustrations on a quick flip, and the book just didn't fail us in any way.
We give it 4-bubbles.


Bubbling's verdict:
Bubbling loves books these that have stuff getting piled up and then tumbling down for her to say "Daaaammmmaaaaaaaaaaal". So , this book is one of her giggly reads by the sight of the huge animals being carried by the bunny.
It is a bubbling-tantalizing-three.

0 D is for David Shannon : No! David Book review

Part of the A to Z Authors/Illustrators

D is for David Shannon

David Shannon:
Winner of Caldecott Honor for No!David and well known for his David books.

Pic Courtesy :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Shannon

Books that Bubble Ink has read :
No! David, Oh! David, Too many Toys

Books read to the Bubbling:
No! David, Oh! David,

Bubble Ink pick:
No! David

Bubbling Pick:
No! David

Some more that we think are great:
A bad case of Stripes.

We will review here,  No! David.

The Book:
No! David is written and illustrated by David Shannon and is a Caldecott honor for 1999.
The author illustrated parts of this book when he was a 5 year old boy knowing only to spell the word No and his name. He did a remake of the book and it came to be called No! David.

The Bubble:
An almost wordless picture book, which on each page has the naughty David do the things he shouldn't be doing and his Mom calling out to him, "No! David". 
We love the pictures that show all of David's naughtiness as he tumbles down a fish tank, kicks a ball to break the vase, puts on a superman cape when sent to bed, makes noise with pots and pans, his toy-strewn floor and his gross digging nose act!

Bubble Ink's verdict:
A great book to remind a parent on how many times the toddler hears a "No..." during their growing up years. We love the last page of how despite all the No s the mom hugs the child and says "Yes, I love you".
Been there, Done that, Felt that - Moment that.

A must read with every toddler. Bubble Ink personally likes this book for the delight it brought to the bubbling on its read and how that giggle and chuckle that she makes is contagious.

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

Bubbling verdict:
Not many books are an instant hit with the bubbling with its very first read. This one, is! We brought it from the library this evening and have already done 5 non-stop reads. At every page, I narrate what David is doing and ask what did his Mother say and she goes "No, David , No" and then I say "David is a..." and she completes ..."Naughty boy" - with the naughtiest giggle. 

It is a bubbling-full-five.

0 C is for Crews : Freight Train Review

Part of the A to Z of Picture books

Donald Crews:
Winner of 2 Caldecott honors, he writes and illustrates his books mostly based around vehicles.

Pic Courtesy: http://inspirationlaboratories.com/the-virtual-book-club-for-kids-author-list-2013-2014/

Books that Bubble Ink has read :
Freight Train

Books read to the Bubbling:
Freight Train

Bubble Ink pick:
Freight Train

Bubbling Pick:
Freight Train

Some more that we think are great:
Truck (Caldecott Honor), Ten Black Dots, Big Mama's

We will review here,  Freight Train.

The Book:
Freight Train is written and illustrated by Donald Crews. The book is a Caldecott Honor 1979.

The Bubble:
The book introduces the components of the Freight Train in different colors and its journey through day and night, through tunnels, over bridges and past busy cities. Red caboose, Orange tank car, Yellow hopper car, Green cattle car, Blue gandola car, Purple box car, Black tender and a black steam engine are all chugging their way on the tracks. The journey is illustrated beautifully as the train moves in these lovely colors through tunnels, passing cities, during daylight and in the night.

Bubble Ink's verdict:

The illustrations in this book are exceptional. We love how the static Freight train is shown introducing most of the lovely rainbow colors and then the moving Freight train looks prettier appearing to be movie with those lovely colors.

We love the details in the illustrations , specifically the pages, where going through the tunnel, the part of the train is hidden as being inside the tunnel and the passing by cities page showing high skyscrapers.

The book is great for introducing colors, playing a game of color matching and to learn the components of a Freight Train.

We bought ours in a book sale.

We give it 4-bubbles.

Bubbling's verdict:

The bubbling didn't take to this book all that well, meaning she wouldn't bring the book on her own to be read. However, we always sing the Mother Goose Freight Train song whenever we pick this book.

It is a bubbling-teeny-two.

0 B is Brown, Margaret Wise : Runaway Bunny Review

Part of the A to Z Authors/Illustrators

Margaret Wise Brown:
Most famous for her classic , Good Night Moon, she has written some beautiful ones.

Pic Credit:http://www.abdopub.com/shop/pc/configurePrd.asp?idproduct=13433

Books that Bubble Ink has read :
Good Night Moon, Big Red Barn, Runaway Bunny, Home for a bunny

Books read to the Bubbling:
All the 3 except Home for a bunny(a recent buy).

Bubble Ink pick:
Runaway Bunny

Bubbling Pick:
Runaway Bunny.

Some more that we think are great:
The Color Kittens

We will review here, the Bubble Ink and Bubbling pick : Runaway Bunny

The Book:
The Runaway Bunny is written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd.

The Bubble:
This book is about mother-child love with some beautiful illustrations alternating in black and white and color. It is the story about a baby bunny which wants to run away from the mother bunny and the mother bunny who retorts saying he will run after the baby bunny to find him.

We love the different imaginative forms that the baby bunny thinks up to run away and the mother bunny devising the fitting form to find him. 
When a fish, the mother would become a fisherman to fish for him; When a crocus in the garden, the mother would become a gardener to find him; When a bird, the mother would become the tree to fly into. 

Sampe Lines:
"If you are gardener and find me", said the little bunny, "I will be a bird and fly away from you."

"If you become a bird and fly away from me," said his mother, "I will be a tree that you come home to"

Bubble Ink's verdict:
At least one mother child book is a must own in every child's library. If you are little one loves bunnies or if these illustrations appeal to you, this might that ONE.
We were impressed by the bonding and the protective nature of mothers that the book brings out in the form of text and illustrations. The text touches you, the illustrations move you. 
We give it 4-bubbles.

Bubbling verdict:
We had this since the bubbling was a little over 18 months. While she wasn't ready then to understand the mother-baby thing, she loved the illustrations and we both delighted spotting the baby bunny disguised in the many forms. She loves the mountain climber page and spotting the bunny hidden so intelligently amidst the mountain peaks.
It is a bubbling-fab-four.

0 A is for Ahlbergs - Peepo Review

Part of the A to Z of Picture book authors and illustrators.

This is the first author roundup at the Bubble Ink blog. 

An author round-up post will have the following sections:

Author/Illustrator introduction

Books that the picture book lover Bubble Ink has read : This will include books read at libraries, borrowed from friends or even bookshop reads :).

Books read to the Bubbling: Some of the books may not be age-appropriate for the bubbling, so the ones read to her will be listed here.

Bubble Ink pick: This is my favourite choosing only from the ones I have read by the author

Bubbling's pick: Bubbling favourite from the ones that have been read to her.
More reads that we think are great : This is also limited to the books that we have come to hear. Any suggestions on this are welcome as comments in the blog.

The Ahlbergs:
A husband-wife duo with Allan, the writer and Janet the illustrator.

Coutesy: http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/library/authors/janetandallanahlberg.htm

Pic courtesy: http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/library/authors/janetandallanahlberg.htm
Books that Bubble Ink has read :
Peepo, Each Peach Pear Plum, FunnyBones, Clothes Horse and other stories and The Pencil.

Books read to the Bubbling:
Peepo and Each Peach Pear Plum

Bubble Ink pick:
The Pencil (This is only Kid-Lit eBook that we own)


Bubbling pick:
Peepo


Some more that we think are great:
Starting School, Previously have been on our wish list.

This post will review the book - Peepo.

The Book:

Peepo is written by Allan Ahlberg and illustrated by Janet Ahlberg.




 The Bubble:
A perfect first book for babies , the book has a circle cut out on every page to have a peek on to what it happening around the baby. For babies, the baby illustrations are easy to relate to, for toddlers - peeping entertains, for older toddlers - it is a great game of guessing. 
The book features the activities of a baby from morning till bedtime and what he sees from his crib, in his high chair, in his push chair, at the park, on his sister's lap.It offers a small peep to what he sees the rest of the family doing and the following opens to the family scene. The book ends on a beautiful note with the baby put back to bed leaving the read guessing what he sees in his dream.

Bubble Ink's verdict:
We love the pretty and detail oriented illustrations. The page spread that shows the scene of the family has been done with a lot of attention to detail. Details to the extent of the baby's night suit being hung to warm on the oven door to the baby actually wearing it to bed when kissed good night. The text says the sisters are looking for a tin to go fishing and the next scene has the sisters sitting beside the pond fishing with the tin nearby. Details like this and the lovely rhyming text will sure have this book grow with the baby.
We bought ours at a book-sale.
We give it 4-bubbles.

Bubbling's verdict:
The bubbling didn't have this book as a baby but when she was about 2 years old when she still loved Peek-a-boo books and also had a liking for babies. So the book was an instant hit. She explains what the baby does on each page and we discuss the page which shows the rest of the family.
It is a bubbling-tantalizing-three.

The post contains Flipkart affiliate links. Should you choose buy these books through the site, please use the link. Bubble Ink will make a small commission out of your purchase and we ll use the money we make for Bubble Ink giveaways

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 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 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 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 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 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 E is for Elmer

Part of the A to Z blogging challenge #atozchallenge

The Book:
The Elmer series is written and illustrated by David McKee is about a patchwork elephant who is unique in all his ways than just his appearance. He made sure that he kept all elephants happy always.

The Bubble:
Elmer is the only elephant in the herd of all grey elephants and gets laughed for this appearance. Elmer gets disturbed by this and he decides to sneak away one night. On his way, he meets all the jungle animals who address him as Elmer and not elephant. Elmer finds a large bush of grey-colored berries and colors himself in berry juice, thus ending up looking like the other grey elephants. When he goes to the jungle, no one recognizes him. The illustrations are lovely where despite now being elephant color, Elmer is shown to stand out in the crowd with his naughty, funny looks.

Even if not recognized by appearance, Elmer couldn't contain his laughter and gets himself identified by bursting into laughter. It then rains to wash off the grey from Elmer making him , himself again. Thus, Elmer day was declared, where all elephants color themselves in multi colors and Elmer colors himself grey.

A lovely story which is a celebration of being oneself and in taking pride in one's individuality.

Bubble Ink's verdict:
We love the subtle way in which the books bring out the message of "Be who you are, even if you are different from others, be yourself".

We have Elmer, Elmer again, Elmer and the Lost Teddy and Elmer's Weather - all of them bought in book sales.

The story line in each of them show how Elmer is unique in his own way - be it his wit, intelligence or kindness, Elmer is Elmer.  Atleast one book in the Elmer series is a must-read for your child.
We give it 4 bubbles.

Bubbling's verdict:
The bubbling is an elephant - lover and loves the Elmer series. Her favourite is Elmer and the lost teddy. From the Elmer book, she loves to identify the berry-juice-covered-grey-colored-Elmer from the other grey elephants.
It is a bubbling-fab-four.