Blue and Red Make Purple: A Musical Journey with Jennifer Gasoi. Jennifer Gasoi. Illustrated by Steve Adams. Montreal, QC: The Secret Mountain (www.thesecretmountain.com), 2016. 44 pp., hardcover (includes CD, 34 min.), $22.95. ISBN 978-2-924217-79-5. Preschool-grade 2 / Ages 4-7. Review by Valerie Nielsen. **** /4

excerpt:

Everyone get into the car
We're driving fast and we're driving far
What better thing to do while we drive
Than make some music before we arrive
Get out your banjo and your guitar
We're makin' music in our little blue car

Now add the trumpet and the kazoo
And a few doo-woppers too
Take the ukulele out of its case
Come on everyone let's pick up the pace
Get out your banjo and your guitar
We're makin' music in our little blue car

Turn it up, open the roof
Let the band play on, play on
Roll down your windows all the way
Honk your horns and hear us play...

Twelve spritely and engaging songs make up Blue and Red Make Purple: A Musical Journey with Jennifer Gasoi, the latest offering from The Secret Mountain Publishing Company. Talented singer/song-writer Jennifer Gasoi is the lead vocalist for each of the dozen songs. Instruments, including ukulele, trumpet, clarinet, saxophone, fiddle, accordion, banjo, glockenspiel, piano, drums and even a didgiridoo, are played by accomplished musicians who provide a lively accompaniment for these catchy tunes.

      Gasoi has a unique gift for writing and performing kid-friendly, upbeat, melodious songs with danceable rhythms, endearing to both children and adults. She has twice been nominated for a Juno award, and in 2014 she won a Grammy award for her CD album Throw a Penny in the Wishing Well. She is an accomplished jazz singer who writes, arranges and performs her children's songs.

      In Blue and Red Make Purple: A Musical Journey with Jennifer Gasoi, Gasoi has selected songs in a dozen jazz-related genres, including Bluegrass, Dixieland, Blues, Folk Cajun, Calypso, Gospel, doo-wop and Klezmer. She has put together a listening guide with notes highlighting the history of each type of music and questions to encourage interaction with young listeners.

      Illustrations for Blue and Red Make Purple: A Musical Journey with Jennifer Gasoi are created by Steve Adams, an artist who has won multiple awards for his illustration of children's books. Featuring double-spread pictures for each selection in colours ranging from warm browns through brilliant oranges, azure blues and the promised purple, Adams' paintings do as fantastic job of representing the blend of various musical styles found in Blue and Red Make Purple: A Musical Journey with Jennifer Gasoi.

      This latest offering by The Secret Mountain Publishing Company will not disappoint those who have enjoyed their earlier storybook and music CD's. As well as providing delightful musical experience for children and adults to enjoy reading and listening to, it will make an excellent addition to the collection of resources available to primary school music teachers,

Highly Recommended.

A retired teacher-librarian, Valerie Nielsen lives in Winnipeg, MB.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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