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 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 Day #12: 30 books in 30 days : Acts of kindness and sharing

As part of the 30 books in 30 days challenge, everyday of the challenge we will post a reading prompt to motivate you to read books.

Day #12 : March 12, 2014, is Girl Scouts Day - honoring that - today's reading prompt is Acts of Kindness and Sharing.

Our picks:

1. One of Each : Mary Ann Hoberman - A story about the pleasures of sharing. Oliver Tolliver lives all by himself having one each of everything in his home. He then wishes to invite his friend and found that he had two of nothing to share with the friend. Oliver goes shopping to buy another of everything and delights in the joy of sharing. A lovely read with rhyme, repetition and some nice illustrations too. 

2. Plant a Kiss : Amy Krouse Rosenthal : This is an adorable book on how a girl plants a kiss, patiently waits for it bloom and then shares the magic and watches how it multiplies. A story of hope, patience, sharing and bliss. Read our review here. Watch the trailer here

3. The mountain that loved the bird - Alice Mclerran By Tulika -  A story of a lonely mountain who is visited by a bird named Joy and how its acts made the mountain JOYOUS. Has the Arthi Anand stamp on that and read her own review here at SaffronTree. 

Kindness - 
It s just like a magic penny - 
Hold it tight and you won't have any,
Lend it, Spend it, give it away and it comes right back to you! 

I think I learnt this when I was a girl guide! 
Once a guide, always a guide.

Be kind to the blog, visit it and come back to tell us what you read.

0 Valentine Pick : Plant a Kiss

The Book:
Plant a Kiss by Amy Krouse Rosenthal is a delightful book on  kindness and sharing, illustrated by Peter H Reynolds.

The Bubble:
The book is about a little girl who "plants" a kiss. She cares for it by watering it , greeting it and showing it sunshine. She waits for it with all the hope for it to sprout and stayed by it through rain, snow and sunshine. When it does, she calls all to show the magic. She shares it with all only to realize that the kisses multiplied. She gleefully goes about, spreading more of those kiss-seeds all over, thus spreading more love for endless bliss!

The book has maximum 3 or 4 word rhyming sentences and would be a treat to hear a beginning reader read it aloud. The illustrations are an overload of cuteness and a treat to see!

Bubble Ink's verdict:
Such a modern take on kisses, all life's lessons between the two covers of the book!
Use the book to teach your little one the goodness of planting, caring and hoping against all odds and acts of kindness and sharing. After all kindness is a magic penny, lend it , spend it , give it away and comes right back to you in multitudes!

Blow a kiss, fly a kiss and come on , plant a  kiss!
On this Valentine, may there only be longer lasting bliss!

We give it 5 bubbles.
Watch the book trailer here. We came to know about the book from our very own "Pappadum". We have placed an order for our own copy with them.We bought one on amazon.com to gift to a friend's daughter.

Bubbling's verdict:
My bubbling @2Years is a bit too young for the book. So this section is a verdict from a 6 year bubbling, a friend's daughter - to whom we gifted the book and instantly took to it and loved it. Infact, read it at one of her school functions where she received the "Star award". In her own words, "I like it a lot because she shares it with everyone".
It is a Bubbling-Full-Five.

0 Feature - Two girls who wanted the golden crown - Nandini Thatavarthy

This is the first feature post by The Bubble Ink. Presenting to you, our little writer, Nandini Thatavarthy. In Bubble Ink style, here it goes

Two girls who wanted the golden crown 

The Book: 

Two girls who wanted the golden crown is about two girls who fought for the golden crown and at the end decide to share it and be best friends.

The book is written and hand illustrated by Nandini Thatavarthy who is 5 years old.

In her own words, on why she wrote the book , Nandini said "because I want to make like a familiar book. I like books and I want to make one. "

The Story: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyxMxSs_Hik

The book with her illustrations can be found in the video. The illustrations were hand drawn by Nandini herself , with her spending 3 full hours to do it. The book was hand written by Archana Budida Thatavarthy, Nandini's mom - word by word as narrated by Nandini, with even grammatical errors left as-is.

We realised the writing was a bit light and with the author deciding to color that area too :), it ended up a little difficult to read. So we requested Archana to add the printed lines to the video and also to send us the story via Email. Find the story at the end of the post.

The Bubble:

The book is about two girls who fight for the golden crown. The illustrations are hand drawn by the author herself and is an absolute joy to see. The girls continue to fight despite rain, despite mountains collapsing only to realize that the golden crown itself is getting smaller as they fight. Fighting till night, the girls decide to stop fighting and share the crown and the found that the crown got bigger. 
It teaches the lovely lesson of kindness and sharing. The message it sends out that despite all the fights friends will remain friends and if we fight, the world around us only diminishes (mountains collapsing, crown getting smaller). What insight into philosophy is that coming from a 5 year old author!

We are thoroughly impressed by the moral of the story, the imagination of the and her illustrations.

Bubble Ink's verdict:

Show the book to your child for that perfect inspiration, read it yourself and feel awed at the 6 year author's imagination.

The little author teaching you a lesson of kindness and sharing and the crown getting smaller when you fight and bigger when they become friends. Everything about the book touches your heart.

We give it 5 bubbles out of 5 and blow our infinite kisses to the author.

Nandini, We at Bubble Ink, want to tell you that we truly love what you have done. The story, the illustrations, the moral - We love it all ! May all the crowns that you desire stay as big as your heart wants them to be!

And as a token of our love and appreciation, we are sending you this, Plant a Kiss, one of our favourite books, the message in this book is the same as in yours. It will soon be on its way.

The Bubbling Verdict:

The bubbling still hasn't read the book. But am sure, this is serve as true inspiration for her.

Bubble Ink interviewed the author and got some lovely answers. Nandini's responses can be read here.

The Story:

Name: Two girls who wanted the golden crown by Nandini Thatavarthy

Page 1: Once upon a time there were two girls who fought and fought and they never stopped fighting. They both want the special golden crown.

Page 2: They went back to their house and they came back out of their house. They saw each other. They started fighting for the golden crown. While they were fighting the golden crown became smaller. 

Page 3: They got surprised and the whole time they didn't know the mountains collapsed and the whole time they didn't know the golden crown was getting smaller.

Page 4: They ran forward before it turned night. But the golden crown was getting 
smaller and smaller.

Page 5: It was raining. They went back to their home and they came out of their home. And it was raining badly. They almost cried for their mommy. But they didn't cry. They were brave.

Page 6: Shalliah was still following Rose. Shalliah wants to still follow Rose.

Page 7: Shalliah was still following Rose. Shalliah will never stop following Rose until she gets the golden crown.

Page 8: Shalliah is still following Rose. She will never stop. But Rose wants her to go back home. But Shalliah will never go back home. Shalliah wants the golden crown until she gets the golden crown she will not go back home.

Page 9: Rose and Shalliah became friends. But they will still fight for the golden crown.

Page 10: Rose and Shalliah are still after the golden crown. They will never stop fighting until one person first gets the golden crown.

Page 11: Rose almost reached the golden crown. Well Shalliah gets mad.

Page 12: Rose and Shalliah and Sam became best friends for ever. Even though if they fought they will still be best friends for ever. The crown became big. They broke three pieces of the crown and they kept the three half cut crowns on their head.

Note :  It was the author's conscious decision to introduce the girls and name them only on Page 6 despite the mother's request to introduce them in the beginning. Why remains a mystery?