Meg is Tune Town’s best music performer but she's having trouble rehearsing. So much trouble, in fact, that the notes have run right off the sheet! Can Meg find the notes in time for her big concert? Or are they closer to home than she thought? A colourful book for music-loving-and-learning kids of all ages.

Children's, Family, Fantasy,,Adventure,Children's,Other,Family,Action

When Meg can’t play her song properly and blames the music, the frustrated notes hop off the sheet, leaving Tune Town without any tunes … on the day of the big concert! Seeking somewhere to belong, the notes travel far away to experience different styles of music, but something’s missing.

With no music to play, Tune Town hums Meg’s song with a sense of longing. The notes hear the melody and feel the emotion — the missing link! Back home, the notes reassure Meg, If you’re having fun then you’re playing all right. No longer worried, Meg relaxes into the song and enjoys her performance.

universal setting — could be anywhere

Yes

,Journey of self discovery,Quest,Other

Happy Ending, Meaningful Message,,Meaningful Message

Information not completed

Name: Meg

Age: 8

Gender: Female

Role: Protagonist

Key Traits: Outspoken, Skillful, Aspiring, Blunt, Empathetic, Insecure,Aspiring,Complex,Insecure,Skillful

Name: A series of anthropomorphised music notes (no gender/ages) serving as antagonist but ultimately unlocking key to protagonist's plight.

Age: N/A

Gender: Other

Role: Antagonist

Key Traits: Gracious, Complex, Empathetic, Engaging, Faithful, Flexible, Adventurous, Charming, Funny, Strong Moral Code,Adventurous,Aspiring,Charming,Complex,Engaging,Insecure,Skillful

Name: Bandleader

Age: adult

Gender: Female

Role: logical

Key Traits: Decisive, Educated, Leader, Skillful,Skillful,Leader

Name: The Town

Age: various

Gender: Other

Role: emotional

Key Traits: Empathetic,Charming,Clumsy,Faithful,Gracious

LOGLINE: On the day of Tune Town’s big concert, a nervous young music performer and her feisty music notes must find each other and learn how to play together. But staying in tune isn't easy. It’s like: Blue’s Clues meets The Sound of Music. The Trouble in Tune Town is a fun, imaginative fantasy told in rhyme with considerable potential for adaptation. Boasting music, adventure, humour, drama, a quest and problem-solving, this engaging story is high on entertainment and pedagogical value. The reassuring message – If you’re having fun then you’re playing all right – inspires children to relax, try their best and find joy in all that they do. Featuring quirky music-note characters, a relatable main character, an emotionally compelling challenge, musical elements and a ticking clock, The Trouble in Tune Town delivers social-emotional learning in spades, offering life lessons that can be applied outside the adapted work. Diverse, contemporary stories and subtle character development contribute to world building. Bolded music terms throughout the story appear in a glossary at the back of the book – a simple, but excellent introduction to music theory that would easily translate to screen or stage. With nuanced themes of persistence, self-belief, resilience and belonging, this highly original, award-winning title has great potential for adaptation, whether as a television series, stage show, in-school performance/workshop, app, interactive (musical) e-book – or all of them!

Maura Pierlot is an author and playwright who hails from New York but has called Australia home for nearly thirty years. Her first picture book, The Trouble in Tune Town, won the 2018 Australian Capital Territory Writing and Publishing Award (Children’s category) and overseas honours. Maura’s young adult fiction work tackles complex issues involving memory, identity and self – no surprise from someone with a Ph.D. in philosophy. Maura’s play, Fragments (youth mental health themes) recently enjoyed a sellout season at The Street Theatre, Canberra. Performed in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Hollywood, Newcastle and Canberra, Maura’s plays have won national and international competitions. Prior to writing, Maura was an ethicist, medical writer/producer, small business owner, freelance journalist and editor of Australian Medicine. When she’s not busy writing, Maura visits schools and libraries as a guest reader and speaker, contributes reviews for the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Reading Time and looks after the street library she started in 2018.

Age: 6-12,6 and under

Target Gender: Universal

Information not completed

Status: Yes: with a Publisher

Publisher: Little Steps Publishing (Sydney)

Year Published: 2017

No

9781925545333