Hi! I'm seeking help to fund the production of my interactive, educational, music-filled ebook for children (5-9ish years) about the adventures of Catarotti and the Skat Kats - jazz playing cats by night and detectives by day - who solve crimes against endangered species (the iconic Southern Corroboree Frog in this first book).

This interactive ebook (for iPad, Kindle F8, Kobo and the web - so you can read it without a particular device) will be primarily a fun detective story with great music (mainly by jazz artist and entertainer George Washingmachine), but it will also enable children to explore the animals and music in the book further. They'll be able to click on pop-up 'fun facts', audio snippets of music styles, maps, clues and separate information pages. The songs are from the Skat Kats CD (see details below).

THE INSPIRATION FOR THIS PROJECT

A few years ago, George Washingmachine and singer Jane Worthington recorded a CD with their jazzed-up versions of nursery rhymes and original songs to raise funds for children with brain cancer. My three daughters were involved with this project - playing small parts on the CD and performing at gigs with the band (the Skat Kats) - because one of my daughters had a brain tumour and Jane and George wanted kids who were being treated for brain cancer to be a part of it. 

Other musicians and celebrities were involved too, including rock legend Jimmy Barnes, Troy Cassar Daley, Felicity Urquhart, James Morrison, Emma Jayakumar and Elana Stone, all donating their time and talents for this project.

Click on the arrow on the CD cover to listen to a sample of the Skat Kats' song Bonza Vista Social Club (the whole song will be in the book):

(Lyrics for both songs above by George Washingmachine and Jane Worthington. Vocals: George Washingmachine and Jane Worthington, with Emma Jayakumar as Catarotti. Emma donated her beautiful voice for the Catarotti song on the Skat Kats CD and has kindly given me permission to use it for the Skat Kats Introduction song here. Learn more about Emma at the website of Lark Chamber Opera, an ensemble who bring classical music and opera to young people in shows throughout Western Australia. Check out George's current band Feel the Manouche, and where they are playing in Sydney.)

The Skat Kats played at the Sydney City Christmas Concerts, Government House, and at neurosurgeon Charlie Teo's Walk for Brain Cancer fundraiser where Charlie played the bagpipes on one of the songs. (Charlie Teo ended up removing my daughter's tumour which other surgeons had said she would have to live with it for the rest of her life.)

THIS PROJECT

One of the characters in the Skat Kats was Catarotti, an opera-loving jazz diva. Audiences loved the Catarotti song (which you'll get to hear in the book) and connected to the character. I had been thinking about how the characters from this band could be developed because they were so loveable and the shows they did involved storytelling.

Then one year my 8-year-old daughter begged to go to her school’s annual book parade as Catarotti. When I explained that Catarotti wasn't a book character, she replied 'Why don't you write a book about her then?'

We only had a couple of days so I drafted a story outline and we created a pretend cover so she could be a 'real' book character at the parade, and I was going to leave it at that. But my kids wanted me to continue with the story and encouraged me to write it down. And so the book was born.

The other Skat Kats are Catarotti's old friend and mentor Inspector Furballs (on his ninth life), Mitsy (aka Cat-astrophe), Tiger Cat (the band's Manager), Snow Cat (based on little-known American jazz trumpeter Valaida Snow), Wild Cat (famous for his Wild Cat Wail) and the smooth Cat King Cole. Other characters in the story include Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Kanga, the Sad Zookeeper, a band called the Crazy Cavoodles, and a mystery character who appears at the end of the story.

THE STORY

The precious eggs of the critically endangered Southern Corroboree Frog have been stolen from the City Zoo breeding programme, placing the continued existence of this iconic Australian frog at risk. The Zoo commissions Catarotti and the Skat Kats to find out who the thief is and to recover the eggs. Their investigation takes the cats from the Zoo to Bondi Beach, and then to the hills and billabongs of the Snowy Mountains where they get to play at the annual jazz music festival there while undercover.

GIVING BACK

Because this book evolved from the Skat Kats project to raise funds for brain cancer, I want to give some of the proceeds from the book to support brain cancer research. The federal government gives only a small fraction of cancer research funding to brain cancer, so the work of Cure Brain Cancer Foundation is crucial. When you consider that brain tumours are the most common type of tumour in children, and that brain cancer (a brain tumour that's malignant) kills more children in Australia than ANY other disease, you'd think we'd be funding research for brain cancer more generously. 

Taronga Conservation Society Australia - This organisation runs the Southern Corroboree Frog breeding programme together with Zoos Victoria. I want to support their work, and my plan is that each Catarotti book will support the endangered species featured in the book. 

The funds raised will be used to have the manuscript edited and the finished book proofread; to pay for use of the digital publishing software to be used to produce the book; to pay for the illustrations (by artist and musician Ella Belfanti who is also my eldest daughter), cover, other artwork, and help with the book design; to record the music snippets and do a new recording of the Catarotti song - the other songs are ready to go but we need to record a new version of the Catarotti song because the male voice in the original was sung by someone who donated their time only for the original CD, to build a website people can order from (it will also be available from the iBookstore, Amazon, Kobo and Google Play) and kids can interact with for more information on the animals, music, etc, plus hosting, payment processing and order fulfilling software; and marketing - printing of flyers to distribute at community and street festivals, music festivals, to schools, to the children's hospitals and so on.

Then there's the Pozible fee, the cost of the Southern Corroboree Frog and Catarotti toys for rewards (Taronga Zoo are unable to donate the frogs because they are a government not-for-profit organisation), the cost of printing the reward illustration, plus a contingency fund for unexpected costs such as recording costs blowing out. If there are any remaining funds after the book is done, I'll donate them to Cure Brain Cancer Foundation.

This is my first children's book but I've written, designed and produced other books, and have also edited and managed the production of books, magazines and other material. See my website and blog (where I write on relationships, parenting and personal growth) for examples of my writing and LinkedIn for my work history.

The main challenge with this project is continuing to produce it with no funding. I've been working on it full-time for many months already (thanks to my husband for his support and to my daughters for their encouragement and contributions), but I simply can't afford to continue to produce, publish and market this book without help.

So if you like the sound of this project, and would like to be part of some really worthwhile causes, your support will be invaluable.

Check out the rewards and various levels of support in the sidebar.