Washington, D.C. (Top40 Charts/ Secret Mountain Official Website) - In a country that not so long ago dominated the global market in children's entertainment for both quality and quantity, it's disconcerting that we are left with only one modern day producer of high quality children's literature and music. Now, this one company brandishes our lost reputation, leading still where others follow. Not your average Canadian manufacturer, Montreal-based The Secret Mountain is the last remaining producer of high quality children's books and music in the country. Innovative packaging, a full-length CD in every consistently gorgeous volume and a remarkable suggested price point of $ 22.95 for the book and CD combination and $ 12.95 for the Digipak CD by itself, have helped the comopny overcome the vagaries of video games and other modern day disengagement entertainment.
This fall, the company releases THE LITTLE BLUE DOGGY and SWING CAF� which, like all Secret Mountain releases, include a book and a full-length music CD and a broad appeal to kids and parents themselves.
Swing Caf� is reaching the bookstores now to be followed by The Little Blue Doggy in October. Narrated by prominent Grammy-nominated artist Bebel Gilberto, and Canadian stage star David Francis, Swing Caf� was written by award-winning author of more than 40 children's books, Carl Norac. It is the story of a Brazilian cricket with a dream of singing in New York. She hops a ride on a woman's fruit hat that takes her right to Manhattan and meets a savvy fly named Buster who brings her to the Swing Caf� on East 54th Street where everyone speaks the common language of swing. Encouraged to take to the stage, she sings from the heart and delivers the performance of a lifetime.
The accompanying record is a treasure-chest of original recordings by musical titans such as Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller and Lionel Hampton, among others. They perform such gems as 'Manuella' by Carmen Miranda (1942), 'Chinatown' (1938), by Chet Atkins,Jean Schwartz and Jerome William 'Daybreak Express' (1933) by Ellington, Fitzgerald's 'Sing Me a Swing Song', by Cab Calloway, Clarence Caskill and, 'Tiger Rag' (1938), performed by The Mills Brothers and composed by James La Rocca. It's a classic on its own with arresting art by Rebecca Dautremer, award-winning illustrator of more than 30 children's books.
The Little Blue Doggy features 13 songs that were written in French, 50 years ago, by composer/lyricist Lionel Daunais, who was recently inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Translated and performed by Michelle Campagne and her family, it tells the story of a little blue doggy victimized by famished mites after being left at home alone by his peculiar parents. The illustrations, by Governor General's Literary Award finalist, Marie Lafrance, are vivid.
Both Swing Caf� and The Little Blue Doggy are available in a basic CD-Digipak format with printable PDF files of the illustrated books. Each Secret Mountain project contains a hardbound book and an entire album of music.
Some of the company's awards include: JUNO AWARD-winning Children's Albums of the Year, A DUCK IN NEW YORK CITY, which has also been honored with a Parents' Choice Gold Award, a National Parenting Publications Association (NAPPA) Honors Award and was selected for Miami's literacy campaign, "One Picture Book, One Community".
A POODLE IN PARIS, FROM CHINA TO SENEGAL and THE FABULOUS SONG also won Juno Awards for Children's Album of the Year. Other awards achieved by Secret Mountain books and records include multiple Parents' Choice Gold Awards (NAPPA), Moonbeam Children's Book Awards, Parents' Choice "Recommended Winner Award", The Children's Music Web Award for "Best Lullaby Album", Independent Publisher Book Award - "Children's Interactive" and finalist in the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award.
Visit www.thesecretmountain.com.
Excerpts from early (US) reviews:
Publisher's Weekly SWING CAFE
Carl Norac, trans. from the French by Jacob Homel, illus. by Rebecca Dautremer, The Secret Mountain (IPG, dist.), $16.95 (54p) ISBN 978-2-923163-62-8 The compact trim size of this sophisticated work...dark, bewitching paintings...Readers should persist...stars a Brazilian jazz-singing cricket named Zaz who dreams of New York City. The death of her butterfly friend Miro releases her...Zaz and the other characters are portrayed as stylish humans with just a trace of their insect nature...Dautremer's visual imagination taps the subconscious brilliantly: Norac's writing is equally arresting:...CD supplies cherished jazz gems from Ellington, Calloway, Fitzgerald, and more, which accompany a lovely audio recording of the story. Intelligent, poetic, and provocative entertainment. Ages 5-7.
Zooglobble:
'THE LITTLE BLUE DOGGY' - MICHELLE CAMPAGNE August 25, 2010
For those of you who think family music's become edgier over time, the following kids' song, written a half-century ago by Canadian songwriter Lionel Daunais features: 1) a locked-up kid-dog, 2) humans in cages, 3) dustmites who eat the title character, and, perhaps worst of all, 4) pipe smoking. In spite of all this, The Secret Mountain has put together The Little Blue Doggy, a book lovingly illustrated by Marie Lafrance including a CD with songs by Daunais performed by Canadian musician Michelle Campagne and her family. You can get an idea of what you're in for by watching the video below. (Warning: includes pipe smoking.) The Little Blue Doggy is out in October.
