Bubble Trouble
“Little Mabel blew a bubble, and it caused a lot of trouble…
such a lot of bubble trouble in a bibble-bobble way.
For it broke away from Mabel as it bobbed across the table,
where it bobbled over Baby, and it wafted him away.”
I double-dog dare you to pick up Bubble Trouble (written by Margaret Mahy and illustrated by Polly Dunbar) and not read this tongue-twisting treat aloud. If you are an educator, we can babble and gabble about phonological awareness, the power of interesting rhyme to help young listeners hear the distinct sounds in words and therefore be better able to decode those words on a page, but frankly, the most important reason you could ever have to share this book with a listener of any age is simply for the pleasure of the patter.
After you and your kids have giggled and goggled until your brains are boggled (oh Margaret Mahy, I love you so), it’s the perfect lead-in to a science experiment with bubbles. There are a variety of homemade bubble solutions – most with dish soap, some with glycerin, some with corn syrup – and how fun would it be to test different solutions, or to vary the amount of one of the components to see how the bubbles are affected? What happens if you blow harder or softer? What if you blow through a square-shaped hole – could you make square bubbles?
If you can get your hands on Mercer Mayer’s wordless book Bubble Bubble, you’d have two fun, distinctly different books about bubbles to compare and contrast.
(For those of you who may be fretful and upset-ful about the baby in the bubble, fear not: thanks to pink and purple patchwork, the rebel treble Abel, and a well-aimed pebble, the baby boy rebounded to his mother’s safe embrace.)
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Chew on these great books
In a recent Remenar Seminar, a principal pointed out that I share lots of stories, but not a lot of non-fiction. That’s something I’m working on – I love fiction, but I know many learners really respond to informational text. So, I’m trying to pair up books on irresistible topics – like bubble gum!
I’m stuck on the bouncy rhyme of Lisa Wheeler’s Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum: “chewy-gooey bubble gum/ icky-sticky bubble gum/ melting in the road/ along comes a toad” who gets stuck. Then a shrew gets stuck, and more animals get stuck – until a truck comes along! What will they do? Chew! And blow a bubble that lifts them from danger, until…
This makes a terrific storybox. Put this book, with its great illustrations by Laura Huliska-Beith, and puppet characters on wooden sticks in the storybox with a container of homemade pink playdough (make sure it’s non-toxic because one of your sweetpeas will probably try chewing on it) to retell the story.
Then, share Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum by Megan McCarthy. It is excellent non-fiction for younger students. The topic is sure to grab their attention, the text is short but interesting and full of fun facts, and the illustrations are large enough for a group read. At the end of the book, McCarthy adds lots more information (like who holds the world record for largest bubble) for kids who want to really sink their teeth into the subject.
Want a super-duper Dubble Bubble science extension? Ask your students, “Do you think bubble gum will weigh more or less after you chew it?” Use the scientific method of forming a hypothesis, listing materials and procedure, controlling variables (everyone chews the same kind of gum for the same amount of time), and see what your results are!
Read MoreFalling for “Falling for Rapunzel”
“‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel, throw down your hair!”
She thought he said, ‘Your underwear.'”
Like the old game of Telephone, messages get garbled in Falling for Rapunzel, a fractured fairy tale by Leah Wilcox and Lydia Monks. Each time the prince calls up to Rapunzel in her tower, Rapunzel misunderstands. Throw down her locks, or her dirty socks? This silly rhyming book fits beautifully into a fairy tale unit, but I like it as a snort-inducing read for Valentine’s Day. After reading this book, play a game of Telephone with your class and see how messages can change from ear to ear. Or give your students prompts to supply goofy rhymes:
“The prince called out, ‘Climb down the vine!’
Rapunzel threw …..”
For more fractured fun, check out Waking Beauty by the same team.
Read MoreGuess Who Is Out of the Den?
