I was listening to NPR this past weekend and heard a TED talk with an interview with Chip Kidd, probably the world's most famous book designer. Chip's comment that a great book cover had to tell you about the book. A book cover was like meeting a person for the first time face-to-face: the cover of a book should tell you about the book inside. He articulated perfectly why I have always spent so much time trying to find illustrators for our Maestro Classics covers and activity booklets whose work could reflect the music that you will meet when you put on the CD and listen. Salley Mavor is a very old friend from Woods Hole, MA, a wonderful small town on Cape Cod where I have been fortunate enough to spend almost every summer of my life. Salley has published many, many books, won awards, and exhibited her work across the country. (Her blog is a work of art unto itself.) Having seen lots of Salley's work, I was certain that she could capture the the spirit in the music of Peter and the Wolf, and I was delighted when she agreed to take on the commission. If you look closely at the original work of art above that was then photographed for the cover of Peter and the Wolf, you will see that it is all SEWN with tiny, tiny stitches! Each Maestro Classics activity book includes includes wonderful illustrations, plus a biography of the composer, a piece of sheet music so that a child studying an instrument can play something they have heard on the recording, a few games and puzzles, a musical topic of some sort, and the words to a sing-along or instructions for a play-along track that is on the CD. If you purchase a CD, the booklet is included with the CD. If you purchase an MP3 download on our site, you will receive the booklet as a PDF. If you purchase our MP3s on another site and you do not receive a PDF booklet, simply send us a copy of your receipt and we will send you a PDF file of the booklet, free of charge.
