Recommended Books
These books and recordings will help children explore the unit’s themes and topics.
Fiction
Charlie Parker Played Be Bop by Chris Raschka
Shoes, birds, lollipops, and letters dance across the pages to the beat of Charlie Parker’s saxophone music.
Music Is by Lloyd Moss
A rhyming tribute to the many ways people enjoy music.
Music, Music for Everyone by Vera B. Williams
Rosa plays her accordion with her friends in the Oak Street Band and earns money to help her sick grandmother.
Ruby Sings the Blues by Niki Daly
Everyone teases Ruby because her voice is so loud—until her musician neighbors help her learn to sing and control her volume.
Nonfiction and Concept Books
Ah, Music! by Aliki
A beginner’s guide to composers, instruments, artists, performers, this book includes facts about music history and genres.
The Jazzy Alphabet by Sherry Shahan
The letters in this alphabet book boogie.
M is for Music by Kathleen Krull
This alphabet book introduces musical terms, from anthem to zydeco.
My Family Plays Music by Judy Cox
Each member of a girl’s family plays a different instrument and enjoys a different type of music—from bluegrass to hymns.
Sing Along Books
Arroz con leche: Popular Songs and Rhymes from Latin America by Lulu Delacre
This book offers a sample of popular children’s songs from throughout Latin America. In English and Spanish. (books and audiotape)
Baby Beluga by Raffi
Illustrations accompany the lyrics to this popular song about a little white whale.
Catalina Magdalena Hoopensteiner Wallendiner Hogan Logan Bogan Was Her Name by Tedd Arnold
The author transforms a traditional camp song into a wild, wacky book about a deliriously happy young girl with an unusually long name.
Shake It to the One That You Love the Best by Cheryl Warren Mattox, Varnette P. Honeywood, and Brenda Joysmith
This is an illustrated collection of 26 play songs from the African American musical tradition. (book and audiotape)