Review and Give-Away: Curious George a Very Monkey Christmas Soundtrack (CD)

I'm excited to be reviewing (and giving away!) this non-bookish treat today.  We were sent a copy of the Soundtrack Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas to review.

A Very Monkey Christmas is the first ever holiday-themed movie featuring Curious George.  It will premier on public television stations on November 25, and air throughout the holiday season on PBS Kids.  You can also purchase a copy of the Very Monkey Christmas movie.

The CD has 13 tracks, some of them jazzy instrumentals and others with lyrics.  

Here are the titles:

1. Curious George Theme Song
2. Christmas With a Monkey
3. Christmas Medley
4. Our Christmas Medley
5. Christmas Tree Shopping
6. Something As Special As You
7. Curious George Holiday Main Title Theme
8. Jingle Bells
9. Perfect Gift/Tomato Man
10. Deck the Halls
11. 12 Days of Christmas
12. This is the One
13. Christmas With a Monkey - reprise

As you can see, there are a few christmas classics, like Jingle Bells, but some original songs as well.  Overall, I found it to be a fun, upbeat album.  Our son hasn't watched much television yet, and hasn't seen any Curious George movies, but he instantly recognized George from his books, and was excited to listen to the CD.  His favorite song seemed to be "Our Christmas Monkey."  He even giggles when it comes on.  There are only a few reviews of the CD on amazon.com, but apparently children seem to share his affection for that song.  He also likes "Christmas with a Monkey."  And of course, he could identify with this line from Something As Special As You: "you like everything that is yellow...you seem like a nice yellow thing kind of fellow."  We have both really enjoyed listening to the CD this week.  The Theme Song has been particularly growing on me, and I like some of the jazzy instrumentals.  

Companion activities:

In addition to the broadcast premier, a new holiday-themed game will debut on the pbs kids website this month.  The game invites children to bring  the special storyline to life as they figure out what gift George has drawn, then help him shop for the gift, wrap it and give it to a loved one.   The pbs kids website is also loaded with fun printables and other companion activities.  I will be adding a link to it to my sidebar where I list author and publisher websites for parents and teachers looking for activities to do along with the Curious George books.

You can read reviews of some of our favorite Curious George books here:

Curious George (the original)

Curious George Bigger and Smaller (a lift the flap book)

Curious George Four Board Book Set

Curious George at the Zoo

Give-Away:

You thought we were giving away a CD to one lucky reader, didn't you?  You're wrong ... we're giving away CDs to THREE lucky winners!  

How to Enter:

1. Comment on this post for one entry.

2. Follow or subscribe to Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile and leave a comment letting us know.

3. Blog about this give-away and leave a comment letting us know.

4. Tweet with a link to the give-away and leave a comment letting us know.

Maximum number of entries: 4 per person.  This give-away is open to participants with a United States mailing address only.  Please make sure that I have a way to contact you if your email address is not available in your profile.  Deadline: December 1, 2009, midnight, EST.

Good luck!

Disclosure: We were provided a CD in order to write this review.  Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with Amazon.com.