This is Kimberley here to provide a cool update on all the happenings at Koolamundo HQ! Alook’s Dance in France has been sent off to press and we will be announcing the official launch date soon. We are so excited to share Alook’s travel adventures with you. Once again, our illustrator Apoorva has gone above and beyond to deliver 40+ pages of colorful and detailed illustrations. Here are a few examples. And we have some more fun news! We are in the final stages of illustrating Luna and Alook’s Funny Food Book, we should have the final three pages next week. Alook is tasting all kinds of fun food as he and Luna travel around the world. Alook can be quite a messy eater as you will see in the book. We are so close to having our third book completed that we may just launch these two at the same time. Here is a sneak peek of Luna and Alook’s culinary adventures. The last bit of news for today is that we have released two new soundtracks. The first one is a German version of Klara the Cow produced and sung by Johanna Hathner. You can listen to the new German version by going to the Sing-along tab and scrolling down. The second soundtrack is a song I wrote for Luna and Alook’s Funny Food Book. My good friend Johanna produced this song to a fun, jazzy beat and sang it beautifully. Get all jazzed-up by clicking on the link below. Imagine it playing during Luna and Alook's dinner party below. Have fun, keep smiling and remember, It's A Kool World out there!
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Greetings Koolamundo fans, we have some good news for you. If you have a tablet or an iPad and use iBooks for instance, you can download Klara The Cow between now and November 16th by clicking HERE or on the images below. You are also welcome to download free soundtracks, read-along videos, eBooks with song lyrics and more. The fall season has arrived in Germany. The cold evenings and rainy weekends make it a perfect time to cuddle-up by the fireplace with your paperback, Kindle or iPad and a copy of your favorite children's books.
Lot's of love, Kimberley There is an awful lot going on at Koolamundo HQ! Let’s start with our Amazon Kindle Free promotion for Klara The Cow Who Knows How To Bow. Klara is available in ten languages in paperback and seven languages on Kindle. Unfortunately, Kindle does not accept the Hindi, Chinese or Japanese language characters. Please mark your calendars for September 14-17, 2015 or you can go to our "Author Page" on Amazon and add Klara the Cow to your wish list. You can also go to our “Books” page and click on any of the book covers. The next bit of exciting news! We just released the Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese versions of Klara the Cow and we retired our previous German version “Klara Die Kuh Die Weiß Wie Man Sich Verbeugt“ and replaced it with our new rhyming version, “Klara die Kuh zeigt, wie man sich verneigt”. I would like to thank my good friend Johanna Hattner for making the new German rhyming version possible! I am thrilled to share a glimpse of our newest book, “Luna and Look’s Funny Food Book” which is currently being illustrated. I have to say that this is my personal favorite cover so far! In this book, Luna and Alook go on a journey through the worlds cuisines. Some healthy, some not, some naughty and some nice! We are looking at a November release. Lastly, please be on the look-out for Alook’s Dance in France in print and on Kindle October 12, 2015. We just finished the read-along video and I think the team did an incredible job putting this together. The video will be available on our YouTube Channel until October 12th, 2015, so please take a look below when you have a moment. I would love your thoughts please. Here we go! What are the key ingredients for making a read-along video in which the author rides on a magic carpet with her new character called Alook? Rather than tell you, let’s take a look. Hold-on everyone here we go, sometimes fast and sometimes slow! Wow, that was really fun, and what a laugh! We actually had to do several takes because someone (not mentioning any names) was laughing and this was one of the silent scenes. Now we have to find a carpet, a city, a nice looking background and all of the illustrated elements that will allow post production to complete the read-along video. You get the idea, there are a lot of different objects that will be added in post production, but I thought I would provide a first look at a few of the finished scenes. If you would like to hear the song I wrote for this book, please stop by our sing-along page and it will start playing for you. And before I sign-off, you can get a free Kindle version of Klara The Cow Who Knows How To Bow starting on September 14th. You can go to my author page and add it to your Amazon Wishlist, so you don't forget. Are you ready for a quick sneak peek? Let's see if I can embed a short video into this post. Here we go. Hang on tight and look for the final version in about 2 weeks. We are looking forward to a September release.
Bye for now! Greetings from Koolmundo Headquarters, The feathers are flying all around the office as we prepare for the launch of our next Koolamundo adventure, “Alook’s Dance in France”. Our crazy, fun loving, little bit quirky bird named Alook is a global traveler and he has embarked on a journey around the world to entertain and delight all of our wonderful children. We are looking forward to a September launch! Our illustrator Apoorva is going above and beyond to create very colorful and entertaining illustrations from her magic work shop in Kolkata, India! Did you know that every spring in India people cover themselves in different colored powder, throw flower pedals and lite bonfires to celebrate the Holi Festival also known as the Festival of Colors? You can see some beautiful illustrations of the 2015 festival here. India is rich in color and festivals and I am sure this is what helps inspire our wonderful Apoorva to use all of the wonderful colors in her illustrations. Here are a few examples. Finally, I would like to introduce you to Alook’s Dance in France by way of our new book trailer. Enjoy and we look forward to sharing Alook and his adventures in up to 10 languages.
You can watch the short trailer by clicking here or on any of the illustrations above. Share your thoughts, we would love to hear from you! Many years ago, I had an idea for a character that would help me entertain and educate (I call this Edutainment) children around the world, about the wonderful world we live in. The character had to be a bird with the freedom to fly from country to country, telling his/her (my) story. The name of my main character is Alook, which comes from the name of our publishing company, Koolamundo. Koolamundo (thumbs-up), was one of my favorite expressions as a child. You may have already figured it out, but “Koola” is “Alook” spelled backwards! This is Alook in his debut book. Having had the pleasure and privilege of living in nine countries and traveling to more than 60 others, I thought about how I could share all of the wonderful things I experienced in my travels with others, especially children. Having dreamt about this concept for many years, I am happy to be able to bring this dream to an amazing reality. Little did I know that I would be working with a brilliant pair of women from two different continents on my first two projects. Allow me to personally introduce you to them. Apoorva, is from the east coast of India, she is a gifted young illustrator who is also an animator. This is how we work together. I create the vision and illustration ideas for every page of the book. Then Apoorva works her magic by first sketching and then coloring the sketches to create bright, colorful and engaging illustrations, like you see in our Klara The Cow books. This is a brief example of how the illustration process works. Author instruction to illustrator: Klara is making a final bow to the readers of the book. (Two page illustration. Left page 28, right page 29.) Author Feedback: We need a strong ending for our special cow. Can you put a crown on her head and make her a celebrity? The other talented woman I work with is Carol. She was born in California and currently lives in Canada. Carol has worked on Broadway as an actor, singer and dancer. She is a Mum, a talented artist and composer. Once I have written the song lyrics, we then collaborate on various ideas for the sound track. Once we have an initial plan agreed, Carol goes to work and produces and composes the song. The Klara The Cow Sing-along song can be heard here. Our very NEW Koolamundo theme song is the second project we completed. Have a listen here.
I am so honoured to be working with these remarkable ladies. Klara The Cow Who Knows How To Bow was a collaboration of three artists from three different continents and cultures, and all three of us have the same passion for working with, educating and entertaining children around the world. I look forward to releasing our next book, Alook's Dance in France, this September 2015. We would like to thank everyone who has helped make "Klara De Koe Weet Hoe Je Moet Loeien" an Amazon #1 Best Seller. A special thanks goes to Paul Martin Raspe, a dear friend of ours who was kind enough to do the Dutch translation.
This is the first in a series of books (The Friendship Series) that Koolamundo will be publishing this year and beyond. The age range for the Friendship Series is 2-8 years old and with every book Koolamundo publishes, we will strive to offer some fun free downloads like Sing-along eBooks, Soundtracks, Audio Books and more. Join our Free Newsletter to stay current on all the excitement and new stuff from Koolamundo. Stay kool! So there I was, sitting on my couch in farmer Rale’s field and who do you think came to pay me a visit? Yes, my special friend Klara the cow. If her hoofs were a little cleaner, I would have let her cuddle with me on the couch.
This journey started many years ago in my mind, but on July 7th, 2015, Koolamundo will deliver to the world what we are calling the “Whole Package”. Klara the Cow Who Knows How To Bow is much more than a book. When the book is purchased (digital or printed versions), the buyer will be able to download the rest of the package for FREE which includes: · Sing-along eBook · Sing-along Soundtrack · Instrumental Only Soundtrack · Audio Book · Read-along Video Koolamundo is an Edutainment company, not just a publisher of children’s books. Reading a book with a child is a lot of fun, but we want to enhance the learning and educational aspects by sprinkling in a little fun! In addition to all the FREE stuff, we have resources for teachers that can be used in classrooms, nursery schools, libraries and even home schooling. If you want to learn a new language, we can also help. Klara the Cow Who Knows How to Bow will be printed in these 8 languages English, German, French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Hindi, and Simplified Chinese. The Kindle version will include English, German, French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, but due to the special characters, Kindle does not accept Hindi and Simplified Chinese. All FREE downloads are in English only at this point. In the coming 6-12 months we will be releasing additional books as part of the “Friendship Series”. What we are really excited about is that some of our characters will be coming to life through animation, so I may just be bowing with Klara one day soon. Please check the Koolamundo website often for new and fun stuff. In fact, if you go to our home page and click on the “Free Newsletter” button, we will make sure we keep you up to date with all the happenings at Koolamundo. Drum roll please ………for July 7th. This is a re-post for my Amazon's author page) Hurrah, the fourth of July is here again. Time to bring out all things that are red, white and blue and get ready for the traditional Independence Day cookout. But did you know that congress declared the 4th July as an official holiday in 1870 and fireworks were introduced on the fourth of July in 1777 in Philadelphia. A year after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. So we have a lot of people to thank for this amazing day. Have a brilliant time with family and friends, catch a parade and enjoy a piece of yummy apple pie. Then take in a glorious firework display and celebrate with a bang. Happy 4th of July America.
Challenge yourself,
and never give up on your aspirations, as life is a roller coaster ride, of delightful surprises. What an incredible journey it has been so far. We now are venturing on with Koolamundo and the many characters that pop in and out of my head. At times I must have driven my family and friends crazy with my kooky ideas and let’s go for it attitude. But they have patiently waited for me to return to earth, which I do once in a while. Our first project as you all know has been about Klara, our sweet cow who knows how to bow. There has been a lot going on behind the scenes and we would like to thank the amazing individuals who have helped us with this project personally. Beautiful Apoorva is our wonderful and creative illustrator, who has worked side by side with me, but on another continent. This amazing lady also helped us with our Hindi translation. Our special Gigi, for helping us with Chinese. Thank you sweetie. Dearest Coco, we appreciate all of your help, lovey. Gorgeous Siona for translating Klara into Spanish whilst she was busy studying at University in Dublin. Carol our talented song producer for taking my lyrics and turning them into two wonderful children’s songs. Helen for helping me with French translations, you’re a doll and Lovely Ulli for working on our German book. Paul Martin, who was there for us with Dutch, you’re the best. Sheryl, my busy friend, that drops everything for us, thank you. The book is dedicated to my wonderful family who continues to support me on this journey. I would like to say a big thank you to each of you. I am so fortunate to have such gifted gorgeous and generous friends around me. |
AuthorKimberley grew-up as a third culture kid; born in the UK, and then living in Africa, America, New Zealand, several European countries and currently residing in Hong Kong. She is on a journey to educate and entertain our children and youth about the Kool world we live in through her books, audio books, sing-a-long books, videos and fun puppets. Please join her on this edutainment adventure! Archives
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