Children's Literature Connected to Music: For Your Classroom AND Substitutes

Ever happen across a children's book that would have been a perfect extension for the unit you taught 2 months ago? Children's books are an invaluable support for our classrooms whether used as substitute activities, a read-aloud embedded in a lesson, or small group/center work. 

Keeping track of every subject addressed in your children's book collection is tough, especially if your collection is continuously evolving. Below is a
non-exhaustive database of children's literature connected to music with topical keywords (for music and beyond), suggested grade level, and in some cases, lexile or F&P information. 

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Some suggested literature by grade level
PreK/Kindergarten:

• Every Little Thing by Cedella Marley: K-2, Illustrated Song, Rhyming, Animals, Bird, Do-La, Singalong
• Kookaburra by Steven Anderson: K-1, Illustrated Song, Australia, Bird, Monkey, Animals, Round, Sol-La, Sol-Mi, Mi-Do, Melodic Steps, Singalong
• This Jazz Man by Karen Ehrhardt: K-2, Illustrated Song, Counting, Rhyming, Instruments, Jazz, History,  Black History, Scat

​1st Grade:

• Do You Do a Didgeridoo by Nick Page: K-3, Fiction, Instruments, Rhyming, Animals, Sounds
• Tito Puente, Mambo King by Monica Brown: K-3, Biography, Drums, Percussion, Latin, Spanish, Cuban, Band, Rhythm, History
• Horace and Morace Join the Chorus by James Howe: K-3, Fiction, Singing, Choir, Practice, Perseverance, Audition, Show

2nd Grade

• 88 Instruments by Chris Barton: K-3, Fiction, Instruments, Instrument Families, Sounds
• Manuelo the Playing Mantis by Don Freeman, K-2: Fiction, Instruments, Cello, Sounds, Habitats, Bugs, Orchestra
• Before John was a Jazz Giant by Carole Boston Weatherford: K-3, Biography, John Coltrane, Jazz, History, Saxophone, Black History, Discrimination, Improvisation, Composition

3rd Grade

• Miguel and the Grand Harmony by Matt de la Peña: 1-5, Fiction, Coco, Guitar, Songwriting, Instrument, Family, Spanish, Mariachi
• Imagine by John Lennon & Jean Julien: 2-5, Illustrated Song, The Beatles, John Lennon, Peace, Rhyming, People
•  Tubby the Tuba by Paul Tripp: K-3, Fiction, Tuba, Piccolo, Instrument Families, Emotion, Pitch, Conductor, Orchestra, Confidence, Vocabulary

4th Grade

• Do Re Mi by Susan Roth: 2-5, Non-Fiction, Guido D’Arezzo, History, Choir, Biography, Italian, Composition, Inventor, Solfege
  
• The Dog Who Sang at the Opera by Jim West: 3-5, Fiction, Dog, Opera, Based on a True Story, Director, Russian, Vocabulary
  
• Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter: 3-5, Fiction, Based on a True Story, Black History, Slavery, Discrimination, Spirituals, Underground Railroad, Illustrated Song, Singing
  

5th Grade

• Harlem' Little Blackbird by Renée Watson: 4-5, Biography, Florence Mills, History, Black History, Segregation, Singing, Discrimination, Show, Dance, Broadway
  
• Saint-Saens' Danse Macabre by Anna Harwell Celenza: 3-5, Illustrated Song, Halloween, France, Saint-Saens, Orchestra, Biography, Composing, Listen and Draw, Violin
  
• Esquivel! Space-age Sound Artist by Susan Wood: 3-5: Biography, Mariachi, Composition, History, Spanish, Sounds, Composing, Mexican, Instruments, Technology