By Jessica Anscombe
Wild Symphony – Author Dan Brown
A few weeks ago, I spied a gorgeous children’s book at the library. The cover is a colourful arrangement of animals playing an assortment of musical instruments – an elephant blowing the trumpet, a nervous cheetah giving its all on the double bass, hilarious little mice swinging maracas and a spider weaving its way across a harp, to name a few. I’m always on the lookout for books to read to my kids and this one seemed lovely. I put it in my pile, without looking at it too much more, and took it home.
After the intensity of dinner and bath time we love to snuggle up for a few quieter moments and read to the little ones before lights out. (This paints a lovely picture doesn’t it… But I won’t lie to you, often this time lacks the calmness that I strive for… still, we try.) On this night, we settled down and opened the cover of the book I’d found at the library. That book was Dan Brown’s Wild Symphony. In my haste during the day, I’d missed the small writing on the front that read, “Includes music composed by Dan Brown!” So, we were all surprised to see on the first page “a secret message from Maestro Mouse” … The message read that this was in fact not just a book but had a soundtrack to listen along to as well.
The first page includes a QR code that you scan to download the app and start listening along to the orchestra as you read the stories on each page. I retrieved my phone, and we were swaying along to the delightful symphonies within minutes. Each page is beautifully illustrated – featuring animals playing their music and includes a poem about the animal and an inspirational message too. At the end of each song, the kids were excited to turn the page for the next instalment. To enhance the fun, there are also hidden letters on each of the stories. Find all the letters and they will make a word!
Wild Symphony provides a layered and immersive story time experience. It’s one that you can come back to repeatedly, finding something new to see each time. I know we will!
TIP: Instead of finding the secret letters as you read, you might like to suggest saving that for a rainy–day activity!
Jessica Anscombe is a librarian and writer living on the Central Coast. She has a passion for literature and writes fiction and non–fiction. Jessica was the winner of the Wyong Writers’ 2021 Short Story Competition and her winning story is to be published in an upcoming anthology. She has also been longlisted for the Furious Fiction prize and you can read her short stories here www.jessicaanscombe.com/category/fiction/short–stories/ and follow her on instagram at www.instagram.com/jessicaanscombe/