What a delightful conversation with not 1, not 2, but 3 creators!  Join in to hear their thoughts about their individual contributions, the amazing collaboration and how it all came together to create an unrivaled musical, artistic story that is full of conflict, tempo changes and more!

This is the trailer for the project.  I love this one because it's the actual reader and has the music, so you get a real taste for what it's like.  Even this small clip you could use in your music class for these particular tempos. For more resources, be sure to check out the YouTube playlist in the links section.

ELA

• Rhyme
  • Allegro --Rhyming couplets
  • Adagio -- Quatrains (ABAB rhyme pattern)
  • Andante -- Tercet (AAA rhyme pattern)
  • Scherzo -- Rhyming couplets
  • Allegretto --Quatrains (ABAB rhyme pattern)
• Onomatopoeia
• Alliteration
• Strong verbs
• Conflict in stories
• Problem/solution
• Vocabulary!! (Consider teaching kids to create a word bank for stories. For instance in this story, a good word bank would be various words about movement, how animals move. Go through and find all the words that relate to movement. Then maybe categorize them.  Then have students create their own word bank and write a story using their word bank.)

SCIENCE

• Forest/woodland habitat
• Food chain

DANCE

• Tie in with music
• Move to various tempos
• Choreograph a dance move for each animal's motif

ART

• Draw to the music
• Create puppets for the animals

THEATER

• Use puppets to act out story
• Act out story
• Assign students to be characters; create a voice for each character, mannerisms, etc.

Tempo
This one seems like the most obvious. The whole book is designed to teach about tempo and their Italian terminology, so for sure I would lean into that.  Here are the tempos that are featured in the book.

• Allegro
• Adagio
• Andante
• Scherzo
• allegretto

There are many ways you could teach these. Check out the links section for ideas. I love the idea of using puppets (see below) and movement to help cement this terminology and these concepts.
Featured instruments
If you listen to the music carefully (or listen to the interview), the composer features several instruments in the musical accompaniment to the story. Musical scavenger hunt (discovering the instruments for each character) would be fun as well as other activities featuring these instruments (and characters)

• Mouse -- Oboe
• Cat -- Viola
• Owl -- Harp/French horn
• Dog -- Trombone

Discuss "motifs" and how the composer used them in this composition.
​
In addition to highlighting these in the book, it's a great time to introduce them to these instruments in very intentional ways as well.  Sound samples, videos, demonstrations, visiting artists, allowing kids to see, touch and encounter these instruments in whatever ways possible would be great!

Beyond these two obvious ways to use the book in the music room, two other ideas that come to mind are:

1. Using music as accompaniment to stories.
   1. Creating their own accompaniment to a favorite story
   2. Exploring other accompaniments to stories
2. Acting out the story with puppets (check out the Pinterest board for lots of easy puppets to make and utilize with the story.). This idea could easily attach to tempo as you would have the puppet animals move at the tempo of the music.

1. Find and join your tribe  
Taking your book idea all the way through to publication is almost always a long journey full of hills and valleys. The best piece of advice I can give is to find good companions. By joining the right Facebook groups and following helpful authors in your space on Instagram and TikTok, you'll save yourself so much time by learning as many things as possible through their successes and failures in addition to your own. 

2. Seek and embrace expert feedback 
I've attended perhaps a dozen SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) conferences, received paid critiques on my manuscripts from editors and agents, and worked with five different self-publishing and marketing coaches. What I've learned from them all hasn't been cheap, but compared to how long it would've taken me to gain their wisdom on my own, their input has been invaluable.  

3. Clarify and follow your goals
What does success look like to you? Do you really want to land your book with a traditional publisher, or are you fine to self-publish? Is your project a labor of love that you won't mind only your family and friends supporting, or do you really want to reach a wider market? Being clear about your goals, and *especially* about the ability of your manuscript to get you there, can save you lots of time, money, and frustration. Again, it's extremely helpful to get advice from agents and editors who publish what you're writing. You may have written a beautifully crafted story, but agents and editors will know whether or not its subject matter and audience is sellable at the moment. Again, it's typically a long road from idea to print, and I wish you all the courage, conviction, and good companionship you can muster! 

​- Never stop striving for excellence in your craft, seeking out qualified peers to learn from and take solid critiques from. 
- Only about 25% of the job is making art, the rest is building a business, marketing, making connections, and fostering positive relationships everywhere you go. 
- Draw what you love, and your passion will show! 

YouTube Playlist with read-alouds, trailers, interviews, additional music activities and lessons and more!

Pinterest board with lots of activities related to the characters in the book, the instruments highlighted in the music, the featured tempos 

Kevin's Connections:
Email: [email protected]

Web: www.showdownsymphony.com
 - Contains free and paid resources for elementary music and ELA instruction 

YouTube (videos created with a fellow 6th grade teacher): Sixth Grade Support

The Book Video Trailer on YouTube

IG: kevin.klein.writing

Emmaline's Connections:
Website: https://www.emmalinemusic.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emmaline__music/

Sarah's Connections:
Website: https://www.sarahnewellillustration.com/

Join Philip and me for a fun conversation about all kinds of journeys and learn a lot about samba along the way -- did you know samba isn't just the dance?  Dig in with us to find out more about samba, more about Ailton Nunes, more about music and percussion and. . . well, just dig in and find out more!

A beautiful story of persistence, lessons learned and then passed along, and  . . .music!  SAMBA beautifully captures the heart of Ailton Nunes and his community and their love for salsa.  There are so many nuggets here -- even in his dedication, where Philip honors his own elementary music teacher -- the value of a good teacher is definitely a present theme, along with resilience, persistence and tenacity.  Valuing and honoring your roots is an underlying theme as well.  The story follows Ailton from his childhood in an impoverished community, through his discovery of his love for music, his own musical education, and how he helped his community redeem their winning status.  Hoelzel's respect for Ailton is palpable.  The back matter is full of helpful definitions, musical instruments of samba and a concise biography of Nunes and a brief history of samba music.

Check out Ailton and his mad samba percussion skills for this celebration. So fun and a perfect piece to use in your music classroom or your regular classroom or anywhere that needs a little music and a little joy and a big beat! If this one isn't your jam for whatever reason, check out the YouTube playlist in the links section for more musical selections to accompany this book.

SAMBA

• Music
  
• Dance
  
• Culture (Carnaval, etc.)
  
• Samba Schools
  

​PERCUSSION!
MUSICAL VOCABULARY

• Check the back matter for glossary and musical instruments
  

BIOGRAPHY of Ailton Nunes
CREATING INSTRUMENTS FROM AVAILABLE MATERIALS
"FOUND" MUSIC

PARTNER BOOKS:
BUILDING AN ORCHESTRA OF HOPE by Carmen Oliver
Delia Ruiz's board book series on Latin dances​

YouTube playlist has  examples of samba music, information about Ailton, exercises for the music classroom and more!

Pinterest board full of samba music, activities for the music classroom, and more!

Philip's website

Philip's Instagram

Philip's Goodreads page for SAMBA (for purchase information, to read and leave reviews)


Philip has generously offered a virtual classroom visit to one lucky winner!  If you'd like to be eligible to win a classroom visit, simply leave a comment below! (If you are not a teacher, I'm sure Philip will honor the visit to a school or teacher of your choice.  What a lovely gift to give a teacher!)

This beautiful book gives some of the backstory of two of the most iconic jazz performers of the mid-twentieth century, and then details how their twisty, twining, challenging paths eventually brought them together where they experienced even more success.  The language of this book takes the journey too -- twisting dance words into melodies and song into movement. Rekha does such a lovely job of creating music with her words all the way through this text in so many ways  --from rich similes to fun scat sections to simply beautiful combinations that sing and play their way through the book.  The art also sings and swings its way from page to page and cover to cover.  What a beautiful book about a beautiful duo that made beautiful music that makes all our lives more beautiful!

Choosing this was hard!  There is so much amazing music by Louis and Ella!  I chose this one for a couple of reasons:  It has them singing separately and together. Louis plays his horn. It's appropriate for kids (I try to choose pieces without a lot of heavy romance, ie kissing, etc.).  If it had them scatting it would be absolutely perfect, and if it was a live performance video, it would be even more perfect. Sigh. We can dream.  I can tell you this -- I cannot listen to Louis without smiling and Ella's voice often makes me just close my eyes.  This music -- pretty much anything by this duo is absolutely sublime!  If this one isn't your jam, there are plenty more on the YouTube playlist, along with play-along videos, body percussion, sing-alongs and more. Check it out in the links section.

YouTube playlist with so much Louis/Ella music, along with karaoke versions of some of their music, commentary, music class activities, biographies and more!

​Pinterest board full of jazz info and activities, scat singing, biographical info, coloring sheets and other things related to Louis and Ella.

Check out Rekha's links, visit her website, order her books (Review them and request them from your library as well!!). Visit and follow her on socials and see how and where you can connect!  Make sure you leave a comment below so you're eligible for her giveaways!

Rekha's website
​
Rekha's Twitter/X
​Rehka's Amazon page (with all her books)
Rehka's Goodreads page

Goodreads page for THAT SWINGIN' SOUND (due out October 14, 2025!). Pre-orders are available! Read reviews, find out where to purchase, write your own review!

Rekha is offering a Winner's Choice Giveaway!  Leave a comment below to enter and IF you win, you can choose one of the following:

• A copy of THAT SWINGIN' SOUND
• A virtual school visit
• PB critique