Books You Need in Your Music Classroom - Upper Elementary List

I love incorporating books into my music lessons and I am adamant that I have a classroom library of books that teach about music history, explore music genres and dance, serve as a reference and more.  This year I moved to a new classroom that had NO music classroom library.  None.  Zilch.  Since I use a reading station in almost of my workstation rotations, I new I had to do something.

I have my own library of books that I've purchased during the last 20 years, so I had a few things to start with but soon realized most of my books were for primary aged students.  I'm currently teaching 3rd, 4th and 5th graders and most of the books that I had were for Kindergarten through 2nd grades. Off to Amazon I went!  I would love to say that I researched for hours and consulted a stack of teacher resources, but I already had a wishlist a mile long for this age group!   Below you'll find a list of the books I have in my library that are appropriate for upper elementary classes.   This list is not even CLOSE to being comprehensive.  There are hundreds of books that I could add to this list and more being published every year.  This list may be a good starting point for you if you are building a library for your music classroom.
Are you interested in seeing my list for primary classes?  Check out THIS blog post.

Charlie Parker Played Be Bop      Chris Raschka

Leaf Man             Lois Ehlert

Max Found Two Sticks   Brian Pinkney

Thump Thump Rat-a-Tat-Tat       Gene Baer

Abiyoyo               Pete Seeger, illus by Michael Hays

The Music Teacher from the Black Lagoon            Mike Thaler

We All Went on Safari:  A Counting Journey through Tanzania     Laurie Krebs and Julia Cairns

Chalk     Bill Thomson  (This book is GREAT for introducing opera.  Students sing an improvised story to this book.)

M is for Music    Kathleen Krull

Dance

Dictionary of Dance         Liz Murphy

My Many Colored Days   Dr. Suess

The Story of the Nutcracker Ballet   Deborah Hautzig

Sing the Book

America the Beautiful    Scholastic

Blowin' in the Wind         Bob Dylan, illus John J. Muth

Don't Laugh at Me           Steve Seskin and Allen Shamblin

Froggie Went a-Courtin'                Iza Trapani

Grandma's Feather Bed     Christopher Canyon (lyrics by John Denver)

Puff the Magic Dragon      Peter Yarrow, Lenny Lipton

Senor Don Gato     illustrated by John Manders

Take Me Home, Country Roads     Christopher Canyon (lyrics by John Denver)

Take Me Out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs  Alan Katz

There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow        Lucille Colandro

There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat      Lucille Colandro

There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell     Lucille Colandro

There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly       Simms Taback

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell  Lucille Colandro

What a Wonderful World             Tip Hopbood

Possum Come a-Knockin'             Nancy Van Laan

 Biography and Careers in Music

Some of these books are chapter books, so students may only get to read a portion of the book during workstation rotations.  My room is used as a bus room and so students also have the opportunity to read during bus room.  I do not lend my books out, but if something is quite popular I let our school librarian know.

Who Is Dolly Parton?      True Kelley

Who Was Elvis Presley? Geoff Edgers

Who was Michael Jackson? Megan Stine

Who Were the Beatles?  Geoff Edgers
There are more titles in this series that you might like.  Elton John and Bruce Springsteen are a few more musicians you can find.

Marvin Makes Music      Jim Madsen

When the Beat was Born:  DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop        Laban Carrick Hill

Composers

Aaron Copland (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers)         Mike Venezia

Duke Ellington (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers)          Mike Venezia

George Gershwin (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers)   Mike Venezia

George Handel (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers)        Mike Venezia

I, Vivaldi               Janice Shefelman

Johann Sebastian Bach (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers)         Mike Venezia

John Philip Sousa (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers)    Mike Venezia

Ludwig van Beethoven (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers)         Mike Venezia

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart         Mike Venezia

Young Mozart    Rachel Isadora

Famous Composers Reference Book      Usborne

Patriotic I teach a "Star-Spangled Banner" unit and like to have a few books on hand for students who finish early.  These are a couple of my favorites.

By the Dawn's Early Light, The Story of the Star-Spangled Banner    Steven Kroll

Can You Sing "The Star-Spangled Banner"?          Martha E.H. Rustad

History

Do Re Mi:  If You Can Read This Thank Guido A'rezzo       Susan Roth

Everyday History: Song and Dance           John Malam

The Rock and Roll Alphabet         Jeffrey Schwartz

V is for von Trapp:  A Musical Family Alphabet    William Anderson

We Shall Overcome:  The Story of a Song              Debbie Levy

When Marian Sang          Pam Munoz Ryan

Before John Was a Giant              Carole Boston Weatherford

John Henry         Julius Lester, illus Jerry Pinkney

Instruments

I Know a Shy Fellow Who Swallowed a Cello        Barabara S. Garriel

Lemony Snicket The Composer is Dead  Nathaniel Stookey

M is for Melody                Kathy-jo Wargin

Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo John Lithgow

The Remarkable Farkle McBride       John Lithgow

Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin       Lloyd Moss

Moses Goes to a Concert             Isaac Millman

Getting Your Library Ready

Every teacher has to find what works best for them, but here are some things that I do to keep my classroom library in good shape:
1.  I put my name on the inside of the front cover, on the back cover and inside the book.  I use a permanent marker and a paint pen on books with a dark cover.

2.  Some of the books have CDs inside of them.  I prefer to keep the CDs in the book, so I tape them in and write "Do not remove." in permanent marker in an obvious place.  I must admit that this works great for every class except Kindergarten.  *giggle*  They rip the CD out and bring it to me so it doesn't get broken.  

3.  I usually keep my library on a shelf, but you could use milk crates, a rolling cart or even a book bag if you were only going to use them during workstations.

I hope that this list is helpful and would love to hear other suggestions for books to add to my library.  Leave the title of your favorites for upper elementary classes in the comments.  If you liked these ideas, pin this post for later!