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 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 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 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 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.

0 C is for Cave Baby

Part of the A to Z blogging challenge #atozchallenge

The Book:
Cave Baby written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Emily Gravett is a story of baby who lives in a cave and loves to paint and his journey with the woolly mammoth.

The Bubble:
The author-illustrator combo is just absolutely awesome. Emily Gravett makes the cave baby wearing a leafy-nappy look so adorably cute. The illustrations on every page is well detailed and lovely.

It is a story of a baby who lives in a cave with his mom and dad having pictures of tiger, hyena, hare, woolly mammoth and a big brown bear on his wall for company. Cave baby finds his cave boring since his mom and dad are busy. He finds paint and a brush and starts to paint patterns on those animals and has fun. Mum and dad are not happy seeing this and the dad threatens the baby saying
"If you don't take care, 
A mammoth's going to throw you to the big brown bear". 

The story continues on with the cave baby being taken away on a journey by the grey mammoth. Throughout the ride, the baby is dreading the big brown bear. Is the mammoth taking him to throw him to the big brown bear? Is he taking the cave baby on his dream journey? Is the ride on the mammoth a dream? Does the baby get to live his dream?
The effect of small things on the child's mind is brought out well in the book. The dad scares the baby of the big brown bear, it stays on the child's mind, he dreams of it, he dreads it all along. At the end of the story - the illustrations show how the baby no longer fears the bear - by depicting it as a small brown bear! Only Gravett and Donaldson can do that in a picture book.

Bubble Ink verdict:
We love the dreamy effect in the story. While the cave baby is riding on the mammoth, his fearful comments on seeing each animal, how dreadful he is of the big brown bear is delightful with the illustrations and the rhyming text.
"Cackle in the bracken. A hyena is laughing there.
Has he heard a joke about the big brown bear?"

One of those books which will grow with your child - Dreamy story, beautiful illustrations, rhyming text , Julia Donaldson, Emily Gravett - What more do you need for a picture book! That is a complete, sure hit package!

We give it 4 bubbles.
We borrowed our copy from Hippocampus Bangalore.
Watch the author perform the cave baby song here.
Bubbling's verdict:
The bubbling loves the story. She jumps in joy seeing the animals , but still says "Elephant" for the mammoth. Her latest favourite happens me to be little babies, so she took to the Cave Baby immediately. The time this book was the one that she wanted it to be read to her, every single day.
It is a Bubbling-Fab-Four.

0 A is for Annabelle : Extra Yarn

Part of the A to Z blogging challenge  #atozchallenge

The Book:
Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett illustrated by Jon Klassen is a story of sharing, good will and magic. It is a 2013 Caldecott Honor.

The Bubble:
The story is of a little girl named Annabelle who lives in a town which seems lifeless with just snow and soot all over. Annabelle finds a box of yarn of all colors and she decides to knit herself a sweater. On finding that she had more yarn left she knit her dog a sweater too. She goes on then to knit everyone in the town a sweater including her friend and his dog, her classmates, her school teacher and all friends and family and neighborhood. She finds that the yarn was never running out. She brings warmth and color to her town by knitting sweaters for even inanimate things like houses, lamp posts etc. The box gets stolen, Does it come back to Annabelle? 

Jon Klassen's illustrations are an absolute delight to see! The illustration of Annabelle weaving with her yarn box is adorable.  

Bubble Ink's verdict:
The sheer joy of sharing what you have got with others, brightening up someone's day or life with a sweet deed and in believing in magic are the things that this book reminds me of. We love the bit where Annabelle knits a hat for a man who dislikes sweaters. We love the humor in the bit where her friend Nate, criticizes her about her sweater. But later, she figured out that it was out of jealously. She knits him and his dog a sweater too. A thoughtful gesture, that. 
We loved the repeated text that goes like this throughout the book
"It seemed that Annabelle would soon run out of yarn.
But it turned out that she didn't"

This book just like this one reminds us
"Love, it's just like a magic penny.
Hold it right and you won't get any.
Lend it, spend it, give it away,
And it comes right back to you"

The stolen yarn box, the curse - Nothing mattered!

We give it 5 bubbles.
We borrowed our copy from Hippocampus, Bangalore. 

Bubbling's verdict:
It seemed that the bubbling @ 2 would be too young for this book. 
But it turned that she wasn't.

Though she did not get the entire essence of the book, she loved the illustrations, she understood the bit about knitting for all friends and family and also the darkness in the robbery. It was one of the books that she kept bringing back to be read to again and again.

It is a bubbling Fab-Four.

0 Never Too Little To Love

The Book:
Never Too Little to Love by Jeanne Willis and Jan Fearnley is about a little mouse who loved a tall giraffe and the mouse's attempt to kiss the giraffe.

The Bubble:
The theme of the book is awesome and a perfect aid for the huggy-kissy times with your child. The illustrations are genius with the cut away pages to show how the mouse builds a tower with objects to reach to the giraffe. The tiny mouse lifting all those objects to build its own ladder and the last page in which the giraffe and mouse kiss each other is cuteness overload. The objects in the book are a perfect blend of things that kids can relate to.

We love how a single line story has been made toddler appealing, amusing and emotional - all at the same time - sheer display of imagination and genius illustrations.
A beautiful love story, which begins in "Once upon a time..."style and ends with "..And they lived happily ever after". Now we know, where the romantic movies take their cues from.

We even grabbed some little blocks ( for thimble, matchbox), a crayon for candle and a tea-cup and cupcake from the Fischer Price tea set to build this tower along with a Finger puppet ( a bunny one for lack of a mouse).

Bubble Ink's verdict:
"When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it " - the variant 
"If you love something with all your heart, the whole universe will conspire to get that thing to you" - I so believe in that with all my heart.

All these life's beliefs and the values we stand by, how do we communicate them to our little ones without sounding preachy! Ha! Such books are an answer to that. If they are too young to get it, you will not regret because this book apart from all its cuteness with love and kisses flying in the air will also amuse your child, teach her to identify a lot of objects and a lesson on cause and effect - climbing high up and chances of tumbling.

You yourself will realize that you are "Never too old to read ... Never Too Little to Love".
We give it 5-bubbles.
We got ours , a hard bound book, from My Little Chatterbox as a prize we won and was part of their Animal Adventure theme.

Bubbling's verdict:
At Bubble Ink, we try the book on the bubbling repeatedly before announcing her verdict. Though I personally loved this book and was raring to review it, but the wait was worth it to now give her verdict.
We are amazed at the way this book has grown on her. From calling out objects in the pages, showing little and tall, attempting to count the number of hearts, bending the giraffe's neck to kiss the mouse to now crawling her little fingers up the tower while saying "Up, up and up and "Dhamall" fell down".
It is a bubbling Fab Four. Not giving a full-five only because she still hasn't completely got the romance in the story :). We might come back to the post to make it a Full-Five once she appreciates that piece.

0 The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The Book:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a story about  the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly.
Eric Carle is a famous American writer and illustrator of many popular children's books. He is most famous for this one. 

The Bubble: 
There is so much we love about the book. From the simplest of it being holes for the little fingers to learn counting to the most complex of seeing beauty in change and its hidden message of "Dream On", this book is all about the things that every child must know. 

The book is a story of how a caterpillar hatches out of its egg and comes out hungry. He eats fruit and vegetables on each day of the week in increasing quantities. The illustrations are lovely and the holes are just right for the little fingers to practise counting. It moves on to a treat page with beautifully illustrated kiddie favourites like cake, lollipop etc on the sixth day where the caterpillar eats a whole lot of junk and ends up with a stomach-ache. This teaches your child the lesson of how too much junk food can turn out to not being good. 

Then comes the most beautiful part of how the prickly caterpillar builds a cocoon around itself and stayed inside it for more than a week, dreaming of being a butterfly. It dreams of things bigger than just crawling and eating. It dreams of flying, it dreams of colorful wings.  It works hard towards his dream by shedding all its skin and one day became a beautiful butterfly. This is a lovely first lesson for your older child to believe and to see the beauty in change. 

 If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies - Author Unknown.

Oh, how true. As you read the book , teach your child to not be afraid of the many changes that await her in life. Teach her to always "Dream big", to dream beyond the obvious; Like the prickly, crawling caterpillar dreaming of colorful wings and flying. It has the hidden message that dreams come true by a lot of hard work like how the caterpillar had to shed all its skin to get those colorful wings and to persevere in pursing this dream.

Bubble Ink's verdict:
This is our first story book review and the book also happens to be the first story book in the Bubbling's book collection. Call it bias or sentiment or our love for dreams or whatever, we strongly say this is a must own in every child's library.  From your child's first counting lessons, days of the week lessons,  healthy eating learning, science lesson of transformation to her moral science lesson to Believe and Dream, the book has it all. It will be a long time before your child outgrows this book.

Go, Grab the book, Learn to Count, Say the Days of the week, coax her into healthy eating and teach her to Dream On.

We bought ours, the board book version at this lovely book store in Chennai - Pappadum. We love buying books at bookshops and this shop is one of our favourites.
We give it 5 bubbles out of 5.

The Bubbling's verdict:
Bubbling loves this book. I have seen her transformation from a baby just observing the colorful illustration, her tiny fingers on those holes on the book, beginning to identify the fruits to now saying almost all items on the junk food page. That is my bubbling, the little egg that she was , then went on to becoming a crawling caterpillar and is soon going to be on her wings to become that beautiful butterfly. Her transformation is her verdict for the book. It is a bubbling fab-four. Fab four only because her lesson of Change and Dream is still waiting to be understood. 
We might come back to this post, a couple of months/years later to give it a Full-Five. For now, Fab-Four it is.

1 Huggy Kissy - Review

 Huggy Kissy

What better way to start the blog for the season, the climate and the blog's theme itself of Bubbles, Babies and Books. This book is all about showing the love in form of hugs and kisses. 

The Book:
Huggy Kissy is a book about Hugs and Kisses with a baby and her close associations. 
Leslie Patricelli is a famous children's author and an illustrator.

The Bubble: 
We love the mere sight of this board book with its color and the matte finish on the pages. Each page of the book has a family member hugging and kissing. No one is forgotten, all close family associations, grand parents, uncle, auntie , the friend, the dog, the cat, the fish and even the blankie is hugged and kissed. We love the message the books sends out ; love all and express it too. Say it with a hug and a kiss.
The joy of bonding is beautifully illustrated in the book with details to the blushing, the sulking during the good-bye hug, the tear for the hug not to end and the pricky uncle.
The love and the mood lift it brings when it is being read is magical.We love the last page with the different types of kisses. It is beautifully hand lettered by the author herself. 
 
The Bubble Ink Verdict:
What's life with a child without those priceless hugs and kisses. A great read. Get it and cuddle your little one. While you are lost in cuddling the little one, the book makes you want to and teaches you how to do it to every one else {aka husbands} whom you love.  Go ! Say "I Love you" with a Hug and a Kiss to all whom you wish to and as the book reminds you , Don't forget anyone, not even the blankie! { may be the smart phonie for many} and wish for the hug not to end.
{XOXO}

We bought ours at amazon.in.

We give it 4 bubbles out of 5.

The Bubbling's Verdict:
The bubbling's verdict can't be put in words. A picture , as soon as she sees the book : that adorable smile and arms held out running for the hug can only do justice. The bubbling , on every read of the book, doesn't forget to demand to be lifted up like what the dad does in this book.

A Bubble Ink book review will have these sections. 
The Book - The synopsis of the book and the author. 
The Bubble - Why we at Bubble Ink love it? 
The Bubble Ink Verdict: The blog author's verdict of the book to other mums  and a rating out of 5
The Bubbling's Verdict: The author's offspring , the tiny thing behind "The Bubble Ink", my toddler's verdict of the book which is expected to be more valuable than the Blog Author's verdict.