Wild Symphony

Book review by Regan McMahon, Common Sense Media
Wild Symphony Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 3+

Fun poems about animals help introduce music to kids.

Dan Brown Picture Book 2020
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Parents say

age 2+

Based on 1 review

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this book.

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What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Wild Symphony is an interactive picture book by Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code. It's an unusual mix of animals, music, puzzles, and 20 poems whose rhyming couplets describe individual animals' behavior. Each spread also includes one or two aphorisms, or life lessons, drawn from how animals face their challenges and anxieties. The interactive aspect involves a QR code you can scan with a smartphone to access a free app that will let you hear a snippet of music on each animal's page. The music is part of a symphony the author composed (he was a musician before he was a novelist) that's played by the Zagreb Festival Orchestra in Croatia and is available on a simultaneously released album titled Wild Symphony. There's also a "hidden game" in the book involving search-and-find puzzles -- a bee that appears somewhere in every scene, and letters that form anagrams of instrument names -- and a final coded message from Brown in his author's note. The whimsical digital cartoon art by Susan Batori and interactive elements will help keep kids engaged.

Community Reviews

AskDrSal
AskDrSal Adult
October 6, 2021
age 2+

Getting off to a great start!

I've been reading Wild Symphony to a young child, since he was a year and a half. Each page featuring an animal, is synced by my iphone or ipad with the corresponding symphonic movements. At two years old, he now goes directly to his favorite animals (cheetah and bat), and can listen to entire movements over and over. He holds whatever is available as a baton, and moves to the music (i.e., holds his arms up like an elephant to the "Eager Elephant" page/movement). He can name all the animals and recognizes all the corresponding movements. This focus and comprehension, relating symphonic music and musical instruments to pictures and words, will serve him well the rest of his life. Speaking of diversity, all the animals have different qualities, as do the symphonic movements that correspond to them. I also read this book with a 7-year old child. He can find the letters hidden throughout the pages to make words.

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages
Great role models
See all 1 parent review

What's the Story?

Twenty short poems about the behavior and habitats of different animals, birds, insects, and sea creatures add up to a WILD SYMPHONY in the end. Each rhyming poem describes a distinctive characteristic of each animal, and each spread includes a little life lesson displayed on a sign or banner held up by Maestro Mouse, who introduces the story on its first page. Readers will catch a glimpse of a musical instrument on each animal's page, and can access samples of music related to each animal via a QR code to scan with a smartphone to get a free augmented-reality app. The final double gatefold shows all the animals playing their instruments in an orchestra led by Maestro Mouse.

Is It Any Good?

This lively collection of poems about animals will appeal to kids, but the concept is a bit muddled. There's no story arc, except that animals with instruments seem to be headed somewhere and end up playing in an orchestra together on the final double gatefold spread -- not a big surprise since that's telegraphed in the cover illustration. The life lessons that appear on little signs on each spread are both a little heavy-handed and a bit of a stretch in how they relate to both human and animal behavior. The added layer of interactive musical samples in Wild Symphony is clever, but the text isn't really about music or musical instruments. However, the endpapers show drawings of all the instruments and their names. Puzzles are thrown in, too. The whole package seems overloaded. Still, it may introduce kids to orchestral music, it's full of positive messages, and it has great art.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the animals, birds, and sea creatures in Wild Symphony. Which are your favorites? What new things did you learn about any of the animals?

  • Have you ever heard a symphony before? How do all the different musical instruments create one piece of music? What does the conductor do?

  • How do the musical pieces remind you of what each animal does? Can you make up a tune that would sound like the actions or personality of your dog, cat, bird, or turtle?

Book Details

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