Kid Konnection: Welcome to the Symphony

Every Saturday, I host a feature called Kid Konnection -- a regular weekend feature about anything related to children's books. This week I'm going to share with you a fun, interactive book for the child who loves music!

Summary: Using one of the most famous works in classical music—Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony—here is the perfect way to introduce a young child to the world of classical music. This charming and interactive picture book with its panel of 19 sound buttons is like a ticket to a concert hall, taking readers on a journey from the exciting first moment when the musicians begin tuning up to the end of the first movement (attention newcomers: don’t clap yet!). At each step of the way, readers learn the basics of classical music and the orchestra: What is a conductor? What is a symphony? Who was Beethoven? The different aspects of music: melody, harmony, tempo, theme. And the families of instruments—strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion.

But the best part is that every critical idea is illustrated in gorgeous sound. The sound panel allows readers to hear the different parts of the symphony and voices of the music—the famous beginning of the Fifth, what a clarinet sounds like, the difference between a violin and a viola, what a melody is, and what harmony is. Kids will want to match their voices to the A note that tunes the orchestra, dance to the rhythmic passages—and, of course, sing along to da-da-da-daah! -- Workman

WELCOME TO THE SYMPHONY by Carolyn Sloan and illustrated by James Williamson is an excellent book for children who want to learn more about classical music and the symphony. It has nineteen buttons on the side which kids will love to play with; and in the process, they can learn about the various instruments in a symphony as well as the basics of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5.

While some kids might find that subject matter a little daunting, WELCOME TO THE SYMPHONY makes learning fun with its many interactive sound buttons. There is a button that demonstrates the tuning necessary for musicians and others that play Symphony No. 5 and the main theme. In addition, there are sixteen buttons of various instruments so kids can learn how they sound when compared to each other.

WELCOME TO THE SYMPHONY is both fun and educational. My kids probably would have spent the majority of their time just playing with the buttons and "making music." However, the book also teaches children the basics of the music. They will learn what a symphony is as well as the definitions of pitch, note, and tempo to name just a few. In addition, they will learn background/history of the various instruments and when it's okay to clap!

I was pleasantly surprised by how much information exists between the pages of WELCOME TO THE SYMPHONY. The book is only 31 pages, yet it contains so much educational material about the symphony. I found the information to be very interesting, so I'm sure youngsters will manage to learn a thing or two. What I really appreciated, though, was how the authors include mice as the audience members -- the ones who were learning along with the reader about the symphony. These characters and their humor made the book lighter and even more fun!

My son's class went to see the orchestra last year for a field trip, and I think this book would have been a fantastic way to introduce the symphony to them! Highly recommended for both home and school libraries.

Thanks to FSB Associates for providing a review copy of this book.

If you'd like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children's books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, please leave a comment as well as a link below with your name/blog name and the title of the book! Feel free to grab the little button too!

Review: Kidz Bop Christmas Party & Giveaway

Summary: Celebrate the season with KIDZ BOP Christmas Party! The brand new KIDZ BOP Christmas Party album includes some of the most beloved Christmas songs of all time.

TRACKS
1. All I Want For Christmas Is You
2. It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
3. Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree
4. Silver Bells
5. White Christmas
6. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
7. Last Christmas
8. Winter Wonderland
9. Blue Christmas
10. Deck The Halls
11. The 12 Days Of Christmas
12. Jingle Bell Rock
13. You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch
14. Caroling Caroling
15. Christmas Time Is Here

I don't know what it is about Kidz Bop products, but my kids seem to really have a good time with them. The latest Kidz Bop addition to our house is KIDZ BOP CHRISTMAS PARTY. This CD includes fifteen classic and popular holiday-themed songs, and my kids have been singing and dancing since it arrived on our doorstep a few days ago.

My 11 year old daughter is all about music -- and especially dancing. The first thing she did with this CD was "preview" all fifteen of the songs. She listened to a few seconds of each one to see what ones were her favorites. I think The 12 Days of Christmas won! She immediately began choreographing dances to a few of the songs.

My six year old son also enjoys listening to KIDZ BOP CHRISTMAS PARTY. He wasn't too thrilled with the "preview" that his sister conducted because he wanted to listen to all of the songs straight through. Once they resolved their issues (it wasn't pretty), the both agreed to play The 12 Days of Christmas....over and over again. While Booking Daughter was choreographing her Rockette-like routine to the song, Booking Son was either copying her moves or creating his own karate dance ones! I should have had my video camera!

I have to admit that I will probably continue to play my "grown-up" Christmas music rather than this CD. However, I do think KIDZ BOP CHRISTMAS PARTY is a cute CD and I love that my kids enjoy it so much!

KIDZ BOP Christmas Party is currently available online at the KIDZ BOP Shop and at all major CD retailers for $11.98 SRP.

Thanks to The Morris + King Company and KIDZ BOP for sending a review copy of this CD.

Giveaway alert: I have a copy of KIDZ BOP CHRISTMAS PARTY to share with one lucky Booking Mama reader. To enter, just fill out the form below before December 13th at 11:59 p.m. ET. I will randomly select and notify the winner the following day. Contest is open to those of you with U.S. addresses only. Good luck!

Review: KidzBops CDs

Summary: Rock around the Christmas tree…with KIDZ BOP! Join the KIDZ BOP Kids and sing along to 15 of the world’s most popular holiday songs, including timeless classics and new favorites such as:

* Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
* Frosty the Snowman
* Jingle Bell Rock
* Blue Christmas
* Last Christmas
* Do They Know it’s Christmas? (Feed the World)

Also includes KIDZ BOP’s first-ever original artist, Sinai Rose doing her take on the great JACKSON 5 version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”

$11.98 SRP

Summary: KIDZ BOP celebrates "Sweet 16” with the release its latest CD, KIDZ BOP 16. The CD features 16 of today’s biggest chart-topping hits—sung by kids for kids, including:

* Boom Boom Pow
* Fire Burning
* If I Were a Boy
* You Found Me
* Heartless
* Live Your Life

Special bonus track: Sinai Rose’s debut single “LOL”

$18.98 SRP

My kids absolutely adore Kidz Bop CDs. I don't know if it's because they hear their parents listening to the radio and they recognize many of the same tunes, or if it's because they love that kids are singing the songs. Needless to say, they were so excited to have a chance to preview two Kidz Bop CDs just in time for the holidays -- Kidz Bop Christmas and Kidz Bop 16.

While I was kind of leery to play Christmas music before Halloween, the kids had no problems listening to the songs and dancing like crazy. I have to admit they were really cute and I ended up not minding that we were singing along with holiday music in October. The Kidz Bop Christmas CD includes 15 songs -- lots of traditional holiday favorites as well as some new-to-me songs. It is an ideal CD to get you and your kids in the holiday spirit!

My 10 year old daughter absolutely "loved, loved, loved" (her words) Kidz Bop 16 and so did her little brother. She was very excited that she knew almost every song on there; and I was happy that I didn't have to worry about the content of the lyrics. She has played this CD over and over again -- sometimes she sings along, but most of the time she just dances to it! It's very ironic that two of the 16 songs on this CD were used in dances that she learned at her summer dance camp.

I hesitate to admit this publicly for fear of being teased, but I thought the CDs were both terrific. I don't just mean that as a mother -- I actually enjoy listening to them with my kids. There is no doubt that children love all things Kidz Bop, and both CDs are terrific gift ideas for the upcoming holiday season. KIDZ BOP Christmas and KIDZ BOP 16 are available on iTunes or wherever CDs are sold.

I shouldn't be surprised to learn that Kidz Bop is the #1 music brand for kids ages 5-12 in the US. What I was shocked to see was how many Kidz Bop items are available! There is pretty much a Kidz Bop CD for any and every event. You can visit the Kidz Bop website to get any idea of just how many CDs are out there. In addition to the checking out the music choices, you will also find lots of other activities on the site including karaoke, music videos, contests, etc.

Thanks to Kidz Bop for sending us review copies of these CDs.

Jean Reynolds Page Introduces Boundtrack

A few months ago, I read and reviewed a wonderful book called THE SPACE BETWEEN BEFORE AND AFTER by Jean Reynolds Page. I mentioned in my review that I thought the section in the back of the book where Ms. Page created a list of songs that "fit" her novel was very interesting. Well she's taken it one step further now and created a concept called Boundtrack®. I just love that name!

From the press release:
SEATTLE – (July 24, 2008) – Jean Reynolds Page, author of the recently published novel THE SPACE BETWEEN BEFORE AND AFTER (Avon A, an imprint of HarperCollins), has introduced the innovative concept of a Boundtrack®, a playlist of songs, much like a movie soundtrack, to complement her novel. Page believes that her readers will have the opportunity to gain an even better understanding of the characters through music that inspired her during the writing of the book. The idea of a Boundtrack® originated with the material included in the supplemental pages that followed THE SPACE BETWEEN BEFORE AND AFTER. The notion of providing a list of songs to accompany the narrative came to Page one afternoon while she was listening to music as a way of fleshing out the emotional lives of the characters.

“The songs helped me then and still help me to define the essential selves of the people who populate my imagination and, eventually, my books,” noted Page. “I thought it might be fun to share my own working soundtrack for the characters in THE SPACE BETWEEN BEFORE AND AFTER. In the Avon A+ section of the novel, I follow each song with a brief explanation of how the music brought me closer to each character.”

On Pages’ website, http://www.jeanreynoldspage.com/, readers are able to view the Boundtrack® and purchase individual songs or the entire mix by linking to iTunes. The inclusion of song suggestions not only offers a more in-depth level of reading but also a way to get in touch with the storyline from a variety of senses beyond the literary aspect of traditional reading. For example, in THE SPACE BETWEEN BEFORE AND AFTER, Page selected James Taylor’s “You Can Close Your Eyes” as the character Holli’s, theme song. When asked why she chose this song, she suggested that to her, the author, the song represents an ‘adult lullaby’ that holds within the lyrics -- and within Taylor’s soothing vocals -- all the comfort that a parent would want to offer when her nearly-grown child is in trouble. Hearing this explanation, the reader/listener is able to better understand the depth of the character and perhaps gain better insight into where Page is taking the narrative.

Critics are raving about both Page’s work and the music she is associating with her characters. Woman’s Day selected THE SPACE BETWEEN BEFORE AND AFTER as one of seven “juicy” beach reads in its Best-of-Summer issue, and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer found Page’s inclusion of music in the supplemental pages of the novel “intriguing”.

“The Boundtrack® opens up another way of listening to what you are reading,” added Page. “After all, it seems that in today’s world, when music accompanies everything from movies to baseball games, there is an opportunity here to enhance the reading experience, as well.”
Jean Reynolds Page is the author of two earlier novels, A BLESSED EVENT and ACCIDENTAL HAPPINESS. Her next book, which is scheduled for publication with Avon A/HarperCollins next year, will also include a Boundtrack® in the supplemental pages.

I am so excited about the Boundtrack® concept and how it enhances THE SPACE BETWEEN BEFORE AND AFTER. I think many of you will agree with me and think this is a terrific book, especially when you can "listen" to the songs that inspired it. If you'd like to get a sneak preview of THE SPACE BETWEEN BEFORE AND AFTER, you can read up to 20% of the book here (including the list of songs and the explanation behind them.)

The wonderful people at Harper Collins have graciously offered to giveaway up to ten -- yes, ten -- copies of THE SPACE BETWEEN BEFORE AND AFTER. All you have to do is leave a comment with your e-mail address. If you'd like to receive two entries, just blog about Boundtrack® and this contest with a link back to this post. To make things a little more interesting, I will be giving away a book for every ten entries that I receive. For example, if I get 40 entries, there will be four books given out; 80 entries - 80 books, and so on. The contest will be open until Sunday, October 26th at 11:59 p.m. I will announce the winner on the following Monday. Unfortunately, this giveaway is open to U.S. mailing addresses only.

Music Meme

Planet Books tagged me with a Favorite Music Meme. I'm going to give this a shot, but you have to understand that my true love is books, not music. It's not that I don't enjoy listening to music, but most of the time my radio is tuned to Radio Disney -- that means that I'm kind of an expert on Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers!

1. Who is your all-time favorite group/singer/musician?
Probably U2 -- I would love to see them in concert someday!

2. Who was your first favorite group/singer/musician?
According to my mom, it was Andy Williams when I was just a toddler. A few years later, I loved Sonny and Cher; Donny and Marie soon followed -- I even had the dolls. By about 10 years old, I was totally infatuated with Olivia Newton John and the Grease and Xanadu soundtracks.

3. Who’s the most recent addition to your list of favorite albums?
I just added George Michael's Twenty Five to my i-pod. I ran to the 25 for Living this morning.

4. If someone asked you who your favorite groups/singers/musicians were, which ones would be the first to pop out of your mouth? U2, Maroon 5, Daughtry, Pink, Sara Bareilles, Casting Crowns, Gwen Stefani, The Police, and Sting.

I'm not going to tag anyone specific for this meme; so if you want to play, just leave me a link to your answers. Thanks to Planet Books for including me!