Simply Fantastic: An Introduction to Classical Music (Hardcover/CD Combo, Ages 7-9)
The Works of Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Verdi and others are Introduced to Children through Legends and Classic Tales
I have stopped counting how many reviews I have done on The Secret Mountain book and CD combos since I think I may review every new one that comes out! Ha! So, if you have been counting, yes, we love these combo winners. It is like an artistic explosion to your senses; fantastic artwork, interesting stories and always super cool music that facilitates learning. Each new book is so different from the next that their books never get old. So, I was a little surprised to see another book from them on classical music for children. You may remember my review on their Listen to the Birds Combo which did a wonderful overview on classical music for kids, so why another? I was intrigued.
Why another release from the same collection?
So I did some checking. And – now I get it! See, the same author, Ana Gerhard, was so successful with Listen to The Birds Combo (it won the Parents Choice Gold Award -wow-), that Ana is back with a new combo and this time with a new illustrator. It makes sense, Ana is herself a piano teacher and studied as a concert pianist at the Mexican National Conservatory.
Then you see the pictures – Oh my! Claudia Legnazzi is the illustrator and she studied at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires. Embarrassingly, I was not familiar with her children’s book illustrations since her works are in Spanish but she has been illustrating children’s books for the past 25 years! Besides adding a magical visual touch to the lovely classical works, Claudia has quite an established list of achievements under her belt including the Argentina Book Chamber’s Album of the Year and Mexico’s International Prize for Illustrated Books. Wow!
The AMAZING CD!
The accompanying CD has 20 excerpts from various recordings performed by world-class luminaries, so I will spare you a track listing. I will say The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and The Fairy-Queen were my preschoolers favorite and it is fun to see the illustrations while hearing the beautiful and YES FUN classical music. The CD features the London Philharmonic Orchestra, La Scala Chorus and Orchestra, and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields! Yeah, pretty amazing stuff for kids.
Brooke’s favorite music selection? Most definitely ‘The Hut on Fowl’s Legs (Modest Mussorgsky)’ that is based on a Russian folklore tale of a witch who lives in a house with chicken legs made of human bones! I think it is supposed to be ‘scary’, but Brooke could NOT stop laughing. Mom! Chicken legs? On a House? That’s CRAZY! Yup!
About The Secret Mountain: Award-winning stories and music for all eyes and ears. The Secret Mountain is a Montreal, Quebec company that is dedicated to creating quality children’s books, videos and audio recordings. I love their pairing of books with music that adds to the quality of a child’s learning. Check out their English (also available in French) titles and store here.
Simply Fantastic: An Introduction to Classical Music (Hardcover/CD Combo, Ages 7-9)
List Price: $ 16.95
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