Women’s History Month – Oodles of Music

Build a House Book Review With Lesson Plans for Music

Integrate literature into the music class with these lesson plans for Build a House by Rhiannon Giddens and illustrated by Monica Mikai. This book is based on the song of the same name and is the story of what happened to enslaved Africans after the Emancipation Proclamation.

The Best Children’s Literature for the Music Classroom

A list of books from newly published to classics for the music classroom with links, music connections, activities, and lesson plans!

A growing compilation of great books and musical connections that work with them!

Books Reviewed + music connection ideas

Build a House by Rhiannon Giddens
The Mitten by many authors
The Secret of the Plátano by Luz Maria Mack
The Year We Learned to Fly by Jacqueline Woodson
Change Sings by Amanda Gorman
In My Heart by Jo Witik
Just Help by Sonia Sotomayor
Ohana Means Family by Ilima Loomis
Sun Wishes by Patricia Storms and Milan Pavlovic

Amanda Gorman Music Resources and Ideas

Music Resources & Ideas for the works of Amanda Gorman.

Change Sings

With her poetry of words, Amanda Gorman’s “Change Sings” uses a story full of music vocabulary to invite children to be the change in the world with acts of kindness. Here are songs that fit into that theme.

The Change Is You

Amanda Gorman’s book, “Change Sings”, inspired this new 3-part round song that uses an African proverb to begin the journey of a call to action to be the change in the world.

Change the World, With Kindness

Written for younger singers, this song reinforces the act of kindness themes in Amanda Gorman’s book, “Change Sings.” With lots of repetition and sequencing, this easy-to-learn song is a perfect concert selection. The resource includes suggested movements and opportunities to create your own movement.

I Dream A World by Andre Thomas

This gorgeous melody set to Langston Hughes’ words is in 2-parts which could easily be adapted to a single melody line. In “Change Sings” Gorman writes, “I scream with the skies of red and blue streamers. I dream with the cries of tried-and-true dreamers.” Hughes writes, “”I dream a world where man, no other man will scorn. Where love will bless the earth and peace its paths adorn.”