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 Hippo Has A Hat

Hippo Has a Hat

The Book:

Hippo Has a Hat is about animals going shopping , the clothes and the accessories they try on at the store in order to get dressed for the party.

Julia Donaldson is one of UK's most successful writers for children. She is undoubtedly a "Bubble Ink Favourite" and a hit with the Bubbling.

The book is illustrated by Nick Sharatt.

The Bubble:

With any animal lover, the book will be a great hit. The illustrations are lovely and the unconventional way in which the animals are illustrated brings a smile on one's face. The tiger standing up wearing a shirt, the hippo grinning with a hat, the cat looking smart in a cardigan, the zebra with a zip are a treat to view on each page. What is amazing about the illustrations, despite them looking unconventional, the baby brain can so easily identify those animals. It is a moment of mommy pride to have your little one actually identify a frog drowned in an over sized tracksuit. The shop set up with clothes, shoes, bags and even chain for the animals to try on brings cheer to the reader. The illustrations are well detailed with attention given to even the variety of each item on rack display. 

What we love most about the book is the message it sends out to be adventurous, break the conventions and not be feel shy dressing up and the party mood that it sets you in.

We love the caterpillar with shoes on page and the last party page.

The book offers a lot of scope for games with the child. Each page gives a sneak preview to the animal on the next page provides for a good guessing game. The final party page with all animals sitting on each other provides for a challenging "Find the animal that you call out" game.

Bubble Ink's verdict:

A  funny read which makes you realize how the simplest of things can bring joy to your child and a smile on your face too. They say, kids bring out the child in you. I have been a big animal hater all these years, but I just love this book! It makes you want to play dress up or to grab that long lost pair  of shorts to try on! 

Read, Giggle with your little one and get set on shopping mood or the party mood , dress up and indulge! Break the rules!

We bought ours, the board book version on amazon.in.

We give it 4 bubbles out of 5.

The Bubbling's verdict:

This section will feature a rating too. 

Full Five

Fab Four

Tantalizing Three

Teeny Two

Only One

Bubbling, an animal lover gives this one a "Full Five". At the caterpillar page, the way she teasingly says "So many shoes" in baby talk is testimony to her love for the illustrations on book. Did anyone say, kids can't get jokes?