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 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 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 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.