0 Date with Dad : Father's Day at Bubble Ink

Celebrating Daddy Dearest at Bubble Ink - Today we Date with Dad.

"Love you to the moon and back" - Guess How much I love you - by Sam McBartney and Anita Jeram - 

- If saying those words to your little one everyday is not enough, then go on a Book Date. 


Date with Dad picks from the Bubble Ink. The Theme is "Love".

1. Guess How much I love you. - by by Sam McBartney and Anita Jeram  - A lovely story featuring a father bunny and little bunny in which they tell each other how much they love each other. Every time, the little bunny stretches his arms or feet to show "This Much" - the father bunny goes higher, longer and much more than the little.a Father-child love that!
and the book ends with "Love you to the moon and back". 

2. Papa, Please get the moon for me. by Eric Carle - A daughter wants to play with the moon and the father sets out to get her the moon - Is he able to? How does he solve the problem - A lovely story that reminds us of all that daddies are ready to do for their children. They say, Don't call it lost till Mom can't find it. Don't call it quits, did Dad can get it for you, Even, The Moon Be it!

And if your birthday is nearing, this is an excellent read too
3. How many sleeps till my birthday by Mark Sperring and Sebastien Braun. A story of a father bear planning a surprise party for the baby bear and how the baby bear goes on tirelessly to ask How many more sleeps till my Birthday? - Lovely gesture that.
Read CuddlesAndReads' Review here on Divya's blog.

Here are some more that we shared for our "Daddy Dearest" during our 30day reading challenge.

Activity Ideas:
These are links from various sites across the internet.

Guess How much I love you http://havingfunatchelleshouse.blogspot.in/2013/02/guess-how-much-i-love-you-book-and.html

Papa, Please get the moon for me: 
http://mstremlsteachingblog.blogspot.in/2011/07/papa-please-get-moon-for-me-by-eric.html


You could read any of your favourite books on this book-date with daddy. You could read your daddy's favourite too. You could read any book on love theme. You could read just about anything!!

There is a maximum of 5 points to be won for this theme.

It is not mandatory to read these same books or do the same activities. 

Reading any book gets you 2 points.
Reading a book either on "Dad" as theme or with "Date/Love" as the theme gets you 2 more points.
Doing any activity on any theme gets you 1 point.

If the dad does any of these with you, give him a Hi-Fi instead of an additional point!

Send us an email to bubbleink.writes@gmail.com with your reads as text or pictures or post on our FB Page post.

0 Father's Day @ Bubble Ink

Bubble Ink celebrates Dad's Day with our dearest things, Books. We will read and share with each other books that we read, book or craft related activities that we do.

Date, Dine, Doodle and Dine with Dad!. For each of these these, we'll post book picks / reviews along with links from the internet for activity ideas.

Date With Dad:
Go on a book date with Dad. The theme is "Love". Read the book you love, a book about parent-child love,pets-love, toys-love anything, adventure-love, sports-love or just read anythings - as reading is all your love. Take your dearest book to Daddy Dearest to gain those extra points.
Eg: Love you forever , Guess How much I love you.
Also books like We're going on a Bear Hunt - which features the father going on a adventure with the family.
Activity idea: Make a card for Daddy.

Dine With Dad:
The theme is "Eat/Cook". Read any book related food. Cook a meal with him. 
Eg: The Tiger who came for Tea, Gruffalo is good too :).

Activity idea: Host a pretend play tea/dinner party along with your favourite book character. Cook up a dish for daddy. Create any craft around food theme. 

Doodle with Dad:
The theme is "Art". Read any book related to art. Make a doodle with him. Draw your favourite book character with him.
Eg: Beautiful Oops, Harold and the Purple Crayon, ish.

Doze with Dad:
The theme is "Sleep". Read any sleep theme book or any book at bedtime with daddy or a book having dads putting children off to sleep.
Eg: Ten, Nine,Eight by Molly Bang 
Interrupting Chicken by Erza Keats
Owl Moon - Jane Yolen.

The blog post for the day will detail the theme for the day and will include picture books featuring dads or which relate to the theme . It can occasionally include internet / Pinterest links with activity suggestions. Doing the very same activity or reading the exact books in the blog are not mandatory to qualify for the points.

Rules:
1. It is not mandatory to read only "Dad" themed books, neither is it mandatory to read only with the "Dad". Like we always say, Just Reading will suffice.

2. Every day starting Wednesday June 11, a blog post and a wall post on the FB page will be made announcing the theme for the day. Books read/Activities done can be posted as a comment there or can be sent as an email. The comment can be pictures or simply mentioning the book and the activity. There is no time restriction to post or email. The contest will run till June 17. Any theme can be done on any of the days. Doing multiple themes on the same day is allowed too. If you are not doing that same activity as in the blog, it is easier to email the activity to us than looking for the right FB post. We would appreciate if you send email(s) for the theme. 

3. Each theme can win you a maximum of 5 points. 
Break up of points:
Read any book : +2
If the book is on the theme like Dining/Doodling/Dozing/Dating or if it is dad themed :+2
Do an activity around the book or the theme : +1

So a maximum of 20 points for the 4 themes mentioned above.
The points table will be posted on a timely basis.

4. The one who gets maximum points will win a Rs 200 flipkart voucher. International participants can opt for a equivalent 5$ voucher on amazon if available in their country or will have to go with the INR voucher. Indian residents can also opt for a book of their choice to be shipped. In case of a tie, a lucky draw will be done to pick one winner. Prizes are self sponsored by Bubble Ink and have no association with Flipkart. If the contest sees very inactive participation, Bubble Ink will decide not to give out the prize voucher.

5. The contest closes on 17 June 2014 and winner announcement will be made on or before 22 June 2014.

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 Children's Book Week : Arts Tales with Arthi Anand - Favourites

Arthi Anand of Arts Tales shares the favourites in their household and the reading journey with her girls


Arthi Anand Navaneeth is a marketing professional with a fragrance MNC , mother of 2 girls and a writer.
Have You Seen This? and Ranganna are her picture books published by Tulika.  She also is the creator of Mister Muthu for Chandamama.

She is a children's book reviewer at Saffron Tree and a weekend storyteller. She blogs about her storytelling adventures at Art's Tales and  her FB page is https://www.facebook.com/artstales

P for Picture books

My earliest memory of narrating a story to Anushka, was The shepherd boy who cried wolf, when she was around one year old.
There on we added Goldilocks and soon The big pancake made it a trio.

We ( Navy, me and my mother) often improvised and made up stories with Anush as a character- to get over some fear or even to explain traffic rules.

Well, she did have some board books on Winnie the Pooh and words and numbers and a beautiful bath tub book of a little fish and a shark
But we largely stuck to the oral tradition and read aloud books only much later.

As an easy gradual step up, Karadi rhymes came into our home by the time she was two and Jalebi curls from Tulika entered our library.
Everyone in the family, including slightly long term visitors learnt the Karadi songs.
We bought every Tulika title we could find- Mountain who loved a bird, Brahma's Butterfly, Gajapati Kulapati are much thumbed copies.

We bought a few Tara and Katha books as well.

A visit from my aunt in the US saw Dr Suess enter our home in a big way- Anush was around 3 then.

I had never read Suess till then and frankly found it overrated to begin with.
But when Anush began to read One fish, Blue fish by herself I was a convert.

Eric Carle ( we began with The Very Hungry Caterpillar) , Julia Donaldson ( started with a Squash and a Squeeze), tales from multi cultural contexts ( began with Handa's Surprise), were loved and embraced thanks to Safrron Tree and a good friend Chox who was overseas then.

I began as an ST fan and ended up a contributor.
Around then, I became an active picture book hunter and Anush graduated to chapter books.
We got Anush picture books in Hindi and most importantly now we had Aditi to read to and she had us and her big sister to enjoy stories with.

We moved to Bangalore and discovered Pratham books- Too many bananas is still a favourite

So the love affair with picture books has turned into an enduring relationship............helping me along in my roles as mother, writer, storyteller and blogger.

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 Children's Book Week @ Bubble Ink

For the love of Books, specifically Children's books, we celebrate Children's Book Week with a book or a voucher to take away and some fun stuff.

1. Book Exchange.
Very similar to our earlier Exchange party with the only change being that we don't want to do it internationally this time unless there is a very specific request.
Please use this form to register for the event with your wishlist and the books that you have to offer. As earlier, you can choose to offer an used book that your child has outgrown, your extra copy of a book or even buy a new book online and ship to your exchange partner. List on the form your preferences to help us work out the partners in an easy and smooth way.

2. List your favourites.
We would to hear from you on the books that you have enjoyed at your home. Your personal favourites as a parent, your child's favourites over the growing years, your current wish list.
If you are a blogger, we would encourage you to write a blog post on your faourites, your reading journey with the child. Share with us the link to your blog.
Here are what we would like to know
1. Favourite characters from Children's Book. eg: Fern from Charlotte's Web
2. Favourite series e.g Spot.
3. Your child's favourites over the growing years.
4. Your personal favourite as a parent.
5. Your current wish list.
6. Your favourite quote or lines from any children's Book.

Most details on the form here.

Submit your favourites here, we will create a collage poster with these on post it on the Bubble Ink page for other parents to benefit from.

3. Celebrate Authors and Illustrators:
On any of the days this week, we would like to celebrate our favourite children's book authors and illustrators. For this, we would encourage you to pick an author or illustrator for a day and celebrate them. Read multiple books from the chosen author/illustrator, draw a similarity in their writing style or illustration style and try an artwork or a small piece of writing based on their style. 
Be inspired by others - Share the resources that you find on the internet.

E.g: Julia Donaldson - With an older child, you can try a small piece of 4 lines with her rhyming style.
Eric Carle - Try a craft with this collage style illustration
Dr Seuss - Try his classic red and blue illustrations.
It can be as simple as even a coloring page or a craft. 
We will post on the Bubble Ink page some inspiration from over the internet and you can post back what you did around the same on our page. We also encourage you to share the inspiration that you find.

4. Win a Book
We love giving away books and we love helping you tick-off your wishlist. If you participate in any one of the above 3 activities, you stand a chance for a lucky draw to win a book or a voucher. The value of the book or the voucher will be limited to Rs 200 INR. For international participants an equivalant 5$ amazon voucher or an Indian Shipping address or the option to take the INR voucher will be requested. Please bear with us for this limitation. If we are able to procure the book on your wish list, we will work out with the individual winner if an used book is ok and can get you that. The option to choose a book or a voucher lies with the winner.
The lucky draw will be done on 20th May 2014.

Now pass the word around and get going.