HEADLINER

Publisher Gründ
Publication Date 02 October 2014

Children's Books

MY LITTLE MOZART

"The sound book is not as developed abroad."

Usually focused on buying rights, in 2013 the les éditions Gründ designed a collection of sound books for toddlers: board books with six fifteen-second sound chips allowing the reader to listen to entire melodies for the first time. This concept has also seduced publishers and readers abroad. 


After having published a few nursery rhyme titles, editors Chantal Janisson and Alexandra Bentz developed a series of sound books around classical music. Émilie Collet's words and Séverine Cordier's illustrations accompany the greatest works of classical music performed by a team of musicians. Mon petit Mozart, released in October 2014, was the first title to be published, with the composer's best-known works (A Little Night Music, Turkish March, etc.). It was an instant success in France. When we presented the collection in Bologna in the spring of 2015, it was a big hit.
We have received dozens of requests from many publishers around the world. Starting in 2015 the Mozart book was followed by versions on Beethoven, Chopin, Saint-Saëns, Vivaldi, Bach, Satie, Tchaikovsky, Handel and Verdi, as well as compilations of the finest classical pieces and operatic arias.
     
Rights have been sold for German, Spanish (Castilian), Catalan, Italian, Portuguese, Czech, Danish, Greek and Chinese (complex), versions and they have been successful in every country. By the spring of 2020, numerous reprints had resulted in sales of more than one million copies internationally!
 
Foreign publishers have been seduced by the musical, graphic and distinctly international nature of the collection. The concept of classical music made accessible to the very young is original and, of course, has high appeal among parents. The sound book market is not as developed abroad as in France, for example, in Germany, there was no such product available. The German publisher immediately fell in love with the collection, being a parent himself and a great lover of classical music.
 
They are only published as co-editions. We work together with our partners on the titles from start to finish. We have final creative control as we must keep the French market in mind, but there have been cases where we create certain titles uniquely for an international market. The choice of composers is made together with our partners so as to meet their expectations. Each country suggests composers they would like to have in their local collection. We have published volumes on most of the major and well-known composers, and the longer this collection is on the market, the more publishers request products specific to their countries. For example, the Italian publisher would like a Rossini volume. There is no doubt about his notoriety, but he is probably better known in some countries than others.  We also collaborate to determine which pieces are the most appropriate for each new title.
 
This international success has opened many doors for us, and as a result, Gründ has expanded its range of sound books to include other formats - also sold internationally. It's a great adventure to see these masterpieces travel the world and reveal to the little ones - and their parents - all their magic.

James Elliott (Rights Manager, Édi8)
June 2020