Wild Symphony by Dan Brown - Children's Book Review
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“All of us are different sizes, shapes and colors. If we work together we can make wonderful music”
Music is a huge part of our family. While I have a huge appreciate for music, I am not musically inclined in the least bit, but my husband, my Father-in-law and my Mother-in-law all play music professionally. My husband and I actually met he was a percussionist on a Broadway tour in Japan (I was the physical therapist!) so since the beginning of our relationship, music has played a large role in our lives. Going to see live music is one of our favorite date night activities, we have music on in the house almost constantly, and we have not one, but two, pianos in our living room. We knew that when E was born, music would be a big part of his life as well.
Between baby showers, holidays, and birthdays, we have been gifted so many wonderful books for E. There are so many amazing books out there right now, but I can say hands down the best book that we have received is Wild Symphony by Dan Brown. When we received the book from my mom at our baby shower the first thing I did was google to see if the Dan Brown that wrote this children’s book was the same man who wrote The Da Vinci Code. Yes, it’s that Dan Brown.
After a quick google search, I learned that not only is he a New York Times bestseller, but Dan Brown is a professionally trained piano player and a music composer! Wild Symphony is Dan Brown's first step into children’s writing and he absolutely did not disappoint! Each page of the book represents a different animal/s and has a small rhyming story about that animal. Brown does a fantastic job of keeping the pages short and sweet but makes each page a teachable moment and he includes a small quote about the morale of the story. While Eli is too young to understand these right now, I think this book will be a great tool to address some of the big feelings that will be coming as he grows. The book addresses the Anxious Ostrich and the Impatient Ponies with simple language that kiddos can understand in a fun format that they will enjoy listening to.
The illustrations in this book are beautiful, and my son loves looking at the bright colors and expressive animals on each page. His favorite page to look at is the Blue Whale, but each page keeps him engaged and scanning for new and exciting things.
The absolutely amazing thing about this book is the FREE app that accompanies it. When you open the book there is a QR that can be scanned on the back page that links you to the app store to download the Wild Symphony App. It’s available on Apple and Android devices. When you’re reading the book all you have to do is open the app and hover your phone over the page that you are reading. Your phone will begin to play a short (2-3 minute) piece of orchestral music written for that animal. I am not kidding you when I tell you this music makes my son groove! I can turn on this music at any time and E will stop what he’s doing and start shaking his booty. He absolutely loves this music, and it has become my go to music to play in the car when he is having a meltdown. It’s amazing to see him go from full melt-down-mode to calm and content when I put on the “Kangaroo Song”.
This book has become our go to gift for all of the kids in our lives - we even gifted one to R for Christmas! - and it has become a favorite by all! One of the reasons that I love gifting this book is that it’s actually enjoyable for parents! If you enjoy listening to KidzBop or CocoMellon more power to you, but I can’t handle listening to those songs. The music that Brown wrote is great. We listen to the entire album all the way through once a day and I can say, at least up to this point, I haven’t gotten sick of it! I’ve even caught my husband humming the music around the house!
The music that comes with this book is what makes it the number 1 favorite for E, but Dan Brown also snuck in a little surprise for us parents. If you’re familiar with any of Brown’s other writing you know that he loves puzzles, riddles and codes and incorporates them in all of his writing. Wild Symphony is no exception, hidden among the illustrations on every page of the book is a secret code waiting to be cracked. Chris and I have actually kept the book with us after bedtime and began working on solving the puzzle. While we haven’t cracked the code yet we’re having a blast trying! If you have read this book and cracked the code shoot us an email or leave a comment and let us know!
