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Why Dan Brown chose music over mystery
Updated On: 04 October, 2020 07:28 AM IST | Mumbai | Dalreen Ramos
With his first childrens book themed on music, and linked to an augmented reality app, Dan Brown has hits the right notes, says a nine-year-old student of violin from Mumbai
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Illustrated by Susan Batori, Wild Symphony features Maestro Mouse, a conductor, who recruits a group of animals to join his orchestra. Pics Courtesy /Puffin Books
For those who primarily associate Dan Brown with Robert Langdon, the Harvard symbologist he made the protagonist of his bestselling five-volume book series, learning that he wrote music before thrillers is sort of a revelation. He started writing piano pieces when he was five. But even in his first children's book that has everything to do with music, Brown refuses to let go of his tryst with mystery—a mystery, Vedanth Viswanathan, a nine-year-old learning the violin at NCPA's SOI Music Academy, was happy to solve, given that we invited him to review the title.
Wild Symphony (Puffin Books) is led by a certain Maestro Mouse, a conductor who introduces his musical friends—from bats and boars to spiders and swans—in 40-odd pages. Each has a special secret and they band together to give the reader a big surprise at the end. But this isn't a traditional read-along. There's a QR code at the beginning, which leads you to download a free, augmented reality app that in turn, lets you listen to music as you point your phone camera towards each page; the music has been composed by Brown himself and performed by the Zagreb Festival Orchestra. Also, hidden in Susan Batori's stunning illustrations are jumbled letters that deliver a message. Both are factors Viswanathan is ecstatic about.
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