bubble trouble

When I came across the poem Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy a few years ago, I thought it would make a lovely picture book.

And now it is.

I wasn’t sure whether the children at playgroup would be able to sit through a reading of the whole book. Twenty-two pages of dense, tongue-twisting text. I had a back-up book in case they looked like they weren’t going to sit for long enough.

I needn’t have worried. The children and parents sat with eyes wide and mouths slightly open, as the story tells of a baby caught in a bubble bobbling all over town.

“The baby didn’t quibble. He began to smile and dribble,

For he liked the wibble-wobble of the bubble in the air.

But Mabel ran for cover as the bubble bobbed above her,

And she shouted out for Mother who was putting up her hair.”

  

Many colourful characters join in the rabble as they follow the baby in the bubble.

Lots of anticipation, cleverly worded rhyme, and rhythm.

Baby has to get down somehow. How will it happen and what will become of him?

Never fear, rascally rebel Abel with his pebble and sling is on hand to treble the trouble.

The kids at playgroup breathed a sigh of relief at the end.

Bubble Trouble, written by Margaret Mahy and illustrated by Polly Dunbar, 2011, Tien Wah Press.