Book Talk: Bubble Trouble

Bubble Trouble
By Margaret Mahy
Illustrated by Polly Dunbar
Clarion, 2009
Personal Copy
Audience: Preschool
ISBN:  9780547074214
Publication Date: April 6, 2009


In this rollicking, rhyming book, Mabel blows a bubble which swallows up her brother and sends him bubble-bobbling through the town and through the air.  This book works in such great ways.  The story is absurd, picking up stranger and stranger characters as the bubble floats along.  The pictures are delightful and colorful, yet soft enough so the reader knows the baby is never in danger.  And the rhyming is perfect!  Rhyming books are so hard!  I've said before that I wish editors would read rhyming books aloud a dozen times before publication, because you will normally find a place where the meter fails.  Amazingly, the meter never fails in this book, rather it bounces along at a break-neck pace, and it's the reader that will fail to keep up.  Lovely pictures, silly story, perfect rhyming, pure delight.

I love this book.  Is it obvious?  I'm not sure why I purchased it, but it ended up on Ali's bookshelf and while I had her comfortably sitting with me last night, my husband picked it out to read to her.  We each took a page and read, and laughed as we tried to keep up with the text.  Ali has reached a great age where she really does see the pictures and she was taking in the illustrations as her dad and I read.  Normally when we read to her she's propped up in the chair and we are sitting in front of her, but it was so nice to all be cuddled together reading a book.  Granted I couldn't see her face, but I still think she was having a wonderful time.  

My tip for reading this book aloud in public is practice!  Like I said, the meter is perfect, but it does take practice to get all the rhymes correct and just keep up.  Some books just demand to be read quickly, and the pace of this rhyme certainly makes you speed up.  But if you are reading it to your own child, then the silliness of falling behind and stumbling over words is half the fun.  

I can honestly say that reading Bubble Trouble to my Ali with my hubby was the best reading experience I have had as a mom.  Share this silly story with someone you love and get ready to laugh.

Happy Reading!