0 N is for Nancy Tafuri

N is for Nancy Tafuri
Nancy Tafuri is best known for her "Have you seen my duckling" which is a 1985 Caldecott Honor.

Books that the Bubble Ink has read:
Have you seen my duckling?, Who's counting?, You are special, Little One.

Books read to the Bubbling:
Have you seen my duckling?, Who's counting?

Bubble Ink pick:
Have you seen my duckling?

Bubbling Pick:
Have you seen my duckling?

Some more that we think are great:
Good night, My Duckling.

We will review "Have you seen my duckling"


The Book:
Have you seen my Duckling is written and illustrated by Nancy Tafuri and is a 1986 Caldecott honor

Buy yours here on Flipkart.

The Bubble:
The story is told in illustrations than in the words. The first page has the text "Early one morning.." and shows how a duckling wanders away to catch a butterfly and his sibling ducklings calling out to him. Mamma duck goes around asking everyone "Have you seen my duckling". While the Mama duck asks everyone, seen in the illustration is the duckling hidden away so subtely but the mama duck unable to see it. There is a also a page in which the duckling is just behind the Mama - Brilliant that!

A mom-child theme book where the story is told by illustrations.

Bubble Ink Verdict:
We love this almost wordless book with a simple story line yet wonderful. We love picture books that double as a game of hide and seek. Our love for the book is the reciprocation of the bubbling's delight in the book on its first read and every subsequent read.
We love the first page that forms the basis for the entire story - the duckling wandering away to catch a butterfly and the other ducklings calling out to it.

This is one of those books that can very well be your child's first book and the most loved one. A must-have in every child's library.

For us, it is on the list of the Bubbling's favourites.

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

Bubbling's verdict:
It is undoubtedly a bubbling-full-five.
This is one of the books that she just didn't want to return back to Hippocampus. We brought it back the first time we went to return it. Bubbling is a lover of lift the flaps, pull tabs and she loves surprises. She delighted at finding the duckling on every page , even in the subtlest of the hiding places. She used to squeal in delight and we have read this one atleast 8 times back to back on the first read and one every other day for all the days it was with us.
Somehow, the bubbling thought that the duckling is hiding from the Mama and did not think that it got lost. Well, wordless books are wordless for this reason, it is left to the imagination of the reader.

0 M is for Maurice Sendak

Maurice Sendak : Caldecott medal for "Where the wild things are" and 7 times Caldecott honors - Is an author and an illustrator.

Books that the Bubble Ink has read:
Where the wild things are, Outside over there - Written by him
Little Bear, Little Bear's visit, What can you do with a shoe like this - Illustrated by him

Books read to the Bubbling:
Where the wild things are.

Bubble Ink pick:
Outside over there.

Bubbling Pick:
Little Bear.

Some more that we think are great:
Mr Rabbit and the Lovely Present.

We will review Where the wild things are

The Book:
"Where the wild things are" is written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak and is a 1964 Caldecott Medal Winner.

Buy yours here on Flipkart or Amazon - Great price.

The Bubble:
The book is about a mischievous boy named Max who was called "A wild thing" by his mother and on telling her back "I'll eat you  up" was sent to bed without supper.
In his bedroom , Max imagines up a world on his own with wild things and has the time of his life with them. He gets called the king by them, they do the wild rumpus and Max even gets to send them to bed without supper. Before long, Max starts feeling lonely and gives up being King of wild things and returns back home to find true love.

We love the illustrations showing the emotions of the wild things , the rumpus and Max in his wolf suit. 

Bubble Ink's verdict:
Love books like these which show the imagination of the little boy and the subtle and yet powerful way in which the mother's love is fed into the story. The mom who sends the child off to bed without supper keeps the food warm when he gets back from his dream world. Touching instance,that! We also love how in the dream, Max gets to send his wild things off to bed without supper. Children - they will be! 
The rumpus pages are great!
We bought ours at a book sale. 
We give it 5-bubbles

Bubbling's verdict:
Bubbling is not into monsters , so did not take to this one that well. However , she loved Max in the wolf suit and relates the monster pages to another favourite of her, The Gruffalo - she recollects the terms terrible teeth and terrible claws.
It is a bubbling-tantalizing-three.

0 L is for Leo Lionni

Leo Lionni is an author and illustrator who has won Caldecott honors - 4 times for his works, Alexander and the Wind up mouse, Swimmy, Inch by Inch and Frederick.

Books that the Bubble Ink has read:
Alexander and the Wind-up Mouse.

Books read to the Bubbling:
Alexander and the Wind-up Mouse.


Bubble Ink pick:
Alexander and the Wind-up Mouse.


Bubbling Pick:
- [A very recent read to her]

Some more that we think are great:
Inch by Inch, Frederick, A Color of his Own, Swimmy, It's Mine.

Alexander and the Wind-up Mouse

The Book:
Alexander and the Wind-up Mouse is written and illustrated by Leo Lionni and is a 1970 Caldecott Honor.

Buy yours here on Flipkart and his other works here.

The Bubble:
The book is a story of friendship between a real mouse and a toy mouse in a household. A real mouse who scoots around, escaping his threats like a broom chasing him, mouse traps and the flying saucers. The wind-up mouse Willy can only move if wound up but is very happy feeling safe and loved in the household. An endearing tale of friendship between these two mice is brought out beautifully in the book. Alexander wishes to be a wind-up mouse Willy, who is always loved and cuddled. He comes to know of a lizard who can transform anyone to anything they want. Does Alexander get his wish fulfilled? Does 

Only genius illustrators can make mice look adorable and only on picture books can you love them and appreciate a story of friendship between mice.

Bubble Ink's verdict:
Loved this book. A beautiful story of friendship. The mouse with wheels is cute overness - We can't believe we are saying that. But, it is picture book world, you see!
Anything from monsters and aliens to mice and lizards can be made to look cute. Yes, the book features a lizard too.

The book brings a smile on your face and also memories of the feelings "I wish I was like that" and the endearing things we ourselves have done for our friends.

We bought ours at a book sale for a throw-away price. Serendipity strikes the Caldecott Collector.
We give it 5 bubbles

Bubbling verdict:
A very recent read to the bubbling - so no verdict yet. But she loved the two mice and their friendship. Did not yet the entire essence of the story.

0 K is for Keats, Ezra Jack

K is for Erza Jack Keats
Caldecott Medal for 1963 for Snowy Day and Caldecott Honor for Goggles in 1970

Pic Courtesy: barnesandnoble.com

Books that the Bubble Ink has read:
The Snowy Day

Books read to the Bubbling:
The Snowy Day.

Bubble Ink pick:
The Snowy Day.

Bubbling Pick:
The Snowy Day.

Some more that we think are great:
Goggles

The Snowy Day - Review

The Book:
The Snowy Day is written and illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats and a 1963 Caldecott Medal winner.

Buy yours here on Amazon or Flipkart

The Bubble:
The story of a little boy who goes out into the snow with his snow suit on - Finding joy in making foot marks on snow, dragging feet to make trails , building snow castles, snow angels, played snow slides. Oh! the joy of simple things and the curiosity of taking a snow ball home! -Merely childhood pleasures those.

Bubble Ink's verdict:
A different Snow book without much of the pretty snowflakes and yet powerful illustrations. We love how the little boy puts a snow ball into his pocket and is upset at not finding it in his pocket and goes off to sleep. He dreams that the sun has melted all the snow but wakes up to still find snow everywhere. Dreamy!

We borrowed ours from Hippocampus Bangalore.
We give it 4 bubbles.

Bubbling's verdict:
Bubbling is usually warm-clothing hater - Post this book , despite summer, demanding her winter jackets. She loved the pages of snow trails!
It is a bubbling-tantalizing-three.

0 J is for Jon Klassen : This is not my Hat - Review

J is for Jon Klassen

Books that Bubble Ink has read :
I want my hat back, This is not my hat, Extra Yarn (Illustrated by him)

Pic Coutesy: slj.com

Books read to the Bubbling:
I want my hat back, This is not my hat, Extra Yarn

Bubble Ink pick:
Extra Yarn

Bubbling Pick:
This is not my hat

Some more that we think are great:
The Dark

We have already done Extra Yarn and love it , we will do the Bubbling pick and the Caldecott Medal "This is not my hat" today.


The Book:
This is not my hat is a book written and illustrated by Jon Klassen. 2013 Caldecott Medal and is a sequel to his I want my hat back.

Buy your copy here on Amazon. and on Flipkart .

The Bubble:
The book is narrated by the small fish who steals the hat from the big fish while he was sleeping. The small fish goes on to justify why he stole, how he stole it and how he thinks that even those who see him hide will not tell the big fish, how no one can find it behind the plants. The narration says that and the illustrations contradict it with exactly the opposite. Witty!

Does the big fish get the hat?

We love the illustrations with it being spread over both the pages for the big fish and only part of the page for the small fish, the facial expressions of the big fish portrayed so well!

Bubble Ink Verdict:
Simple story sprinkled with wit, some dry humor and with some awesome illustrations. This one is a great read. Let your little one just enjoy the illustration, your older one the wit and you enjoy all of it!

We borrowed ours from Hippocampus Bangalore then bought our own copy at the Flipkart 50% sale.
We give it 5 bubbles.

Bubbling verdict:
This is one of those books that I didn't expect the bubbling to like , but even if one doesn't get the dry humor in it, brilliant illustrations win hands down. She picks the book up saying the first line "This hat is not mine", Then I go "I took it from a" and she completes "Big, big fish" - She enacts the sleeping, waking up, looking for hat, where's my hat pages! We adapt the story a bit so she doesn't yet get the hit but relates more as a hat taken away and the big fish going to find it.

It is a bubbling-full-five

0 I is for Ian Falconer : Olivia Review

Ian Falconer
Winner of Caldecott Honor for Olivia is an author and illustrator.

Books that Bubble Ink has read :
Olivia, Olivia and the Missing Toy

Books read to the Bubbling:
Olivia, Olivia and the Missing Toy

Bubble Ink pick:
Olivia and the Missing Toy

Bubbling Pick:
Olivia and the Missing Toy

Some more that we think are great:
The entire Olivia Series : Olivia forms a Band and Olivia saves the circus

We have already done Olivia and the Missing Toy , we will do the Caldecott Honor Olivia today.


The Book:
Olivia is written and illustrated by Ian Falconer - A Caldecott Honor for the year 2001.

Buy Olivia , the Caldecott Honor here

Check the rest of the series here.
The Bubble:
It is about this piglet named Olivia who wears everyone out with her naughtiness, wears herself out with her adventours attitude , the try-it-all attitude girl, a dreamer, a book-lover, a firm sister , a smart and super confident toddler - all in all - a lovable piglet.
The book narrates a day in Olivia's life introduces her family, her cat, her dog and her her talents, tantrums, trials, adventures and her favourite things to do.

Many a thing with Olivia is something that any parent and toddler can relate to. The book brings out most of the significant traits of a toddler . The younger sibling copying the older sibling and how it angers the older sibling when the younger ones run after them; the want-to-try everythign attitude in them and the fanciful dressup phase, the grasp everything and master it all trait - where Olivia when taught to build sand castles now builds a sand tower; the naptime tantrums, the "i-can-do-it-all" phase where Olivia tries to replicate a painting seen in a museum, the bed-time story demands.

The illustrations, all red and white are super cute and well detailed too which compliments the smarty piglet.


Bubble Ink's verdict:
We love this smart, dreamy piglet - We relate many of the scenes in the book to some of bubbling's toddler phases! And of course, the wearing us out bit. 

We love the last pages, 
"Only five books tonight, Mommy", she says.
"No, Olivia, just one"
"How about four?"
"Two"
"Three"
"Oh,all right, three.
But that's it"

The mother after reading her books says
"You know ,you really wear me out,
But I love you anyway."
And Olivia gives her a kiss back and says,
"I love you anyway too." 

Atleast one book in the Olivia series is a must read. 
We bought ours at the Flipkart 50% off sale.
We give it 5-bubbles.

Bubbling's verdict:
Bubbling picture reads most pages and loves the skipping Olivia page.
After the Olivia and the missing toy which is a bubbling-full-five. This one is a bubbling-fab-four.

0 F is for Fleming, Denise - In the Small Small Pond

F is for Fleming, Denise

Denise Fleming
Winner of the Caldecott Medal for In the Small Small Pond is an author and illustrator.

Pic Courtesy: Google Images

Books that Bubble Ink has read :
In the Small Small Pond

Books read to the Bubbling:
In the Small Small Pond

Bubble Ink pick:
In the Small Small Pond

Bubbling Pick:
In the Small Small Pond

Some more that we think are great:
In the Tall Tall Grass

We will review In the Small Small Pond.

The Book:
In the Small Small pond is written and illustrated by Denise Fleming

Buy here on Flipkart:
The Bubble:
A book that is excellent in illustrations and in rhyme. The book introduces on each spread animals, the actions or the things that they are upto on the pond with just 4 words to describe them.

All pond animals are introduced one on each page with action words to describe them or by naming them. Tadpoles, Geese, Raccoons, Muskrats, Crabs, Fishes, Herons, dragonflies and all of that appear in the book.

Sample lines:

Wiggle Jiggle, Tadpoles wriggle

Splitter splatter, minnows scatter

Click Clack, Claws crack

Dabble Dip, Tails Flip

Bubble Ink's verdict:
We love the illustrations and the intelligence in being able to convey the text in excellent rhyme and amazing brevity.
Our interpretation of the plot in the book is of a frog who is trying to go to sleep but is going around the pond being disturbed by all the action like minnows splattering, crabs clacking, paws flashing. The frog is even shown as dozing off in one of the spreads. But slowly towards the end, after all the action in the pond, the frog settles down as it starts snowing, "Cold Night, Sleep Tight"

For the youngest book lover, the illustrations and the spotting the frog appeal.
For beginning readers, the rhyming text, learning some new animals in the pond work well.
For older readers, the large font aid in reading and a great start to a good vocabulary.
Ours was a borrowed read.
We give it 4-bubbles.

Bubbling's verdict:
She loves books where we name each animal and the spotting the frog from this book. She starts the book with Frog jumping over the boy.
It is a bubbling-tantalizing-three (A very recent read for us)

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 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 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.