February’s Music Book Review is all about the book Wild Symphony by Dan Brown. Yes, The Dan Brown who wrote The Da Vinci Code. I must admit that when I saw a press release late last year about a music book for children written by Dan Brown, I assumed that it must be another Dan Brown, but no it is the very same. What surprised me even more was that there is a piece of music that accompanies and enhances this book, and that, too, was written by Dan Brown. And right at the start you can find a QR code that takes you to an app letting you listen to the music whilst reading the book.
What is this book about?
The blurb for Wild Symphony says:
Maestro Mouse is getting ready for one ginormous symphonic surprise!
Travel through the trees and across the seas with Maestro Mouse and his musical friends – they’ve all got a special secret to share! And Maestro Mouse is leaving surprises for you too: a hiding buzzy bee, jumbled letters that spell out clues, and even a coded message for you to solve. Spot the clues on this mindful, mysterious and musical adventure!
I think I would probably describe Wild Symphony as a sort of motivational book for children. There is a very small hint of a story going through the book in that you meet a new one of Maestro Mouse’s friends on each page of the book, and Maestro Mouse is there for each encounter. But each animal encounter, if you like, is a stand alone encounter, and they each illustrate an emotion or situation that children come across with motivational messages about that emotion. The illustrations by Susan Batori are really nice, and illustrations for this age reader are just as important, sometimes even more so, than the words on the page. The illustrations and words on the page work very well together here, so even the youngest reader will enjoy leafing through the book or looking at the page while you read to them.
Read simply, i.e. just as the book itself, it’s a nice book for younger readers. I got both my children to read the book, and while my youngest, at 7 years old, quite liked the book on its own my eldest, at 10 wasn’t so keen. Where the book really came into its own was with the accompanying app with music written for each page, and then a piece at the end with all the animals coming to play together. This absolutely transformed the book for my children into a book they both really enjoyed. They decided to sing the words on each page to the music accompanying each animal; and dance along too, especially to the very last page. Now the music is clearly not written for this purpose, it’s not a series of songs. But that’s what my children decided to do and they were having a blast.
As I mentioned above, Dan Brown wrote the music as well as being the author of the book, and I think he did a very good job of capturing each animal in the music – he has written a set of tone poems here (music that is written to illustrate a story or poem), and the music does very much evoke the animal and message for each page. My personal favourites were the cheetah and the kangaroo.
The book says that there are puzzles in the book, and I think we found the puzzles in the book. However, there were no instructions anywhere in the book about what the puzzles actually were or how to do them. There were also no answers given to the puzzles. I looked on the app to see if either those instructions or answers were on there and even on the book’s website with no luck. This was my only niggle with the book, and something I felt could have been done much better. It didn’t detract from our enjoyment of the book at all as it was all about the music for us.
Who Is This Book For?
Would your child enjoy this book? Well as always, you know your child best, so everything I say here should be read with that in mind. This is obviously a book for children who have an interest in music. I would say that it is a book pitched especially well for young readers, with a nice story and nice illustrations.
The entry on Amazon says that this is a book that is a book aimed at baby to 6 years old, and I would agree that this is where the book is aimed. However, my 7 and 10 year olds enjoyed the book as well especially with the music and their decision to try to sing the words to the music! I must admit that if I weren’t for the fact that I was reviewing Wild Symphony for this blog I wouldn’t have bought it for my children to read as it is a little young for them. But they did both get a lot out of the book. So for once I think I would extend the age recommendation further than it says on Amazon. I would personally recommend the book for 3 to 7 year olds given the interaction between the words on the page and the music in the app. For the book on its own I would agree with Amazon’s stated age range.
Would I recommend this book?
In short, yes I would. It’s a nice book, and I love the interaction with the app. I was very pleasantly surprised with Dan Brown’s skills as a composer, and think he does a great job of painting a picture of each of the animals in the book with his music.
Where Can I Buy This Book?
I bought I Want to Be a Musician from Amazon, but have seen the book available from other book retailers as well. At the time of writing the book was available from Amazon priced at £7.35, though you should always bear in mind that the prices in Amazon fluctuate with demand. I think this book is priced fairly at £7.35, especially in comparison with some of the other music books I have seen recently.
If you have enjoyed reading my blog post, thank you. I am always looking for ideas for the blog, so would love to hear from you with suggestions for topics you would like me to cover in the future. Also, if you would be interested in supporting me to keep this blog running, buying the books to review here, and supplies to make the DIY instruments, for example, I would be absolutely delighted if you would consider buying me a coffee using the following link: Buy Me A Coffee Thank you!!
getkidsintomusic.com 