Title: Minky the Bibble
Author and Illustrator: Laurie Calford
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 978-1-6632-0696-1
Genre: Illustrated Children’s Book
Pages: 24
Reviewed by: Beth Adams
Pacific Book Review
Author and artist Laurie Calford has created an original children’s book about a fanciful animal called a Bibble, in this, her first of a series of books, titled Minky the Bibble. What exactly is a Bibble? Well it has four legs, deer-like ears, fur like a mink, and a loving attitude. Minky, the name given to the Bibble, is not personified to the point of speaking to the other characters, but definitely communicates via his actions; such as going into a pond and tossing many fish out to his friend Jack who is fishing by the shore.
The story begins when Minky is bumped off a truck, not physically injured, but the hit was hard enough to cause amnesia in the Bibble’s mind – not knowing who he was or where he belongs. So, when he meets this young boy Jack, they instantly befriended each other. Jack wants to hide Minky, so he puts him in his younger brother’s overalls to disguise him, but that doesn’t last long as Minky slithers out of the garment. Next, Jack’s sister Kate puts Minky in a pink dress with a zipper, so he can’t wiggle out of it, and that seems to work better. Yet when Minky goes into the pond to catch fish, the dress gets all messed up.
Minky the Bibble has all of the elements of a quintessential children’s book – wonderful illustrations, an imaginative character, children taking control of their situations, but most intrinsically charming is the rhyming of the text throughout the story. Yes, I can say author Laurie Calford is multi-talented by being an excellent story-teller, a wonderful artist and having an effortless rhyme making her also a poet. Her written voice is bouncy in a whimsical way, making this an ideal book to lull children off to dreamland at bedtime, or entertain them any time of the day.
Readers will learn this is the first book of a series with Minky the Bibble, so it will be good advice to make room on your family’s bookshelf for a collection of stories which are epic in their charm and wisdom. Other titles yet to come include Jack’s First…Best Summer Ever! No Bibbles for Bullies, and The Year of the Bibble. After all, with such an adorable critter, why cut the character’s tales short when there is so much to love about this cute little Bibble?
