Bubble Bubble – Mercer Mayer

Bubble Bubble by Mercer Meyer 2003 Gingham Dog Press

Bubble Bubble has been one of my kids favorites.  I would say the best age for this book is as early as one years old and then again for early readers.   There aren’t a ton of words in this book, in fact the first edition did not have any text to it.  That should tell you just how expressive and interesting the pictures are to this book.  My then 4-year old daughter had the whole thing memorized and liked “reading” it to me.

Bubble Bubble- Buying the “Magic Bubbles” Mercer Meyer- Gingham Dog Press

The story is pretty simple,  A little boy buys a Magic Bubble maker and blows some animal shaped bubbles.  Some of them are kind of freaky like a snake, but he then blows a bubble shaped like a cat to get the mean snake, but then…

The cat turns into a large cat and is going to attack us.  Quickly, he blows another bubble. “And that took care of that”. After this same pattern a number of times, our little boy gets tired, and decides to pop all the bubbles.

Spoiler Alert:  This is the last gorgeous page:

There is a repetitive pattern in this book where a cute animal bubble appears, but then attacks so we blow another animal to get that animal that kids love.  Seriously, even my 2 year old loves this book. I think because she knows what’s going to happen.  The pages are bright and there are tons of details to see.   Now for the bad news- this book is out of print!  I managed to find a hardback copy to save on my special shelf for a good deal and read a paperback one to my daughters.  Selfish, I know, but I don’t want to give this book up now. It has too many memories for us.

• Author: Mercer Mayer
• Illustrator: Mercer Mayer
• ISBN: 1-57768-348-X
• Publisher: Gingham Dog Press
• Copyright: 1973 and 2003

The Secret World of Og – Pierre Berton

This book is not easy to come by in the States so if you see it- grab it.

I can hardly be a fair critic of this book because I grew up watching the TV show when it would come on a few times a year as a cartoon morning special. It Aired in that last spot before cartoons ended and tennis came on, and well into chore-starting time… so watching it was kind of a special deal; requiring the perfect mix of parental approval and cartoon chance. So, of course I love this book. It’s about kids and their imagination and it absolutely takes me back to a time when mine was still running wild.

Here’s a little throw-back to the 80’s cartoon special I remember so fondly!

Time will tell if my girls like the story, and I fully intend to read this to them once they sit still long enough to test it out. Thankfully, this Canadian edition has TONS of pictures in it though they look a bit amateur, and not in the purposeful way.  Still, I like the unique-ness of it and that his daughter drew the pictures for this.  I also have to say that her character is by far the cutest looking…  If one of my sisters did that, we’d have called it out.  Julie, I am thinking of you specifically!)

Patsy is the one in Braids. One of my favorite things about this story is how well the kids get along

But on to the story for people who didn’t grow up in the 80’s, or for those whose parents wouldn’t allow chores to be pushed off until 11.  Four siblings search for their baby brother underneath a secret tunnel in their play house and find a world filled with mushrooms and little green people who only say “OG!” all the time, for everything.  “Og, Og, Og”  Not only that, but they are dressed in funny discarded costumes and have many of the items the Berton kids have misplaced over the years, like Penny’s most favorite doll. All of the kids and their pet dog and cat have a great adventure together and save the land of “Og”.   Well, kind of. Maybe they don’t save any underground lands, but they do retrieve their baby brother.  They mostly get along and stick together as a family, which in my book makes a fantastic story to read to my kids.

Here’s an example of one of the better illustrations. There are tons of them in the margins of each page of the book.

I read the special edition and it was a nice size for reading aloud and had illustrations on nearly every page. It is definitely preferable to the movie-tie in version that is a bit easier to find.

• Author: Pierre Berton
• Illustrator: Patsy Berton
• ISBN: 0-385-65911-3
• Publisher: Doubleday Canada
• Copyright 1961