10 Enchanting Children's Books Celebrating Music and Dance
Did you know that March is Music in Our Schools Month and National Music Month? If you work with kids, you probably already know about the transformative power of music. It can help kids get out the wiggles, feel lighter and more joyful, aid in transitions, and help with all types of learning, including memory and vocabulary. If you're not already convinced, check out this resource from the School of Rock that lists research and benefits for each age group.
We encourage you to share more books celebrating music and dance with the young people in your life. This collection consists of fiction and nonfiction stories that celebrate all types of music and dance lovers!
Looking for more books about music and dance? Visit our Bookshop page.
Jam, Too?
Author: JaNay Brown-Wood | Illustrator: Jacqueline Alantara | Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
A drum circle is forming on the beach, and one fascinated child would love to join in. Soon there’s everything from a conga’s pat-a-pat-a, pat pat to some bongos’ taka taka, ta ta—and it looks like so much fun! But what do you do when you don’t have a drum? Well, when you let the music move you, you just might find other ways to jam, too!
This book was also selected as one of NEA's Read Across America 2025 books. They've compiled a ton of educator resources on their website that you can view here.
Dancing the Tinikling
Author: Bobbie Peyton | Illustrator: Diobelle Cerna | Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
"Jojo, come dance!" Lola calls, inviting him to leap between the clapping and slapping bamboo poles and dance the tinikling with her. Whirling, twirling, and singing in Tagalog, Jojo tries but trips. Lola dances between the two poles easily, the same way she dances between their American and Filipino cultures--Jojo knows that dance! And finally, spinning and hopping to the rhythm of his life, he's dancing the tinikling! Part of the Own Voices, Own Stories Collection.
When Langston Dances | Author: Kaija Langley | Illustrator: Keith Mallett | Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Ever since Langston saw a dance company perform, all he wanted to do was dance - to learn how to do all the beautiful and technical things he saw. Sure, he likes basketball, too, but that is not where his heart is. This is such a joyful and affirming book that breaks traditional gender constructs and shows us a Black boy who loves dance, and has the support of his whole community.
Soul Step
Author: Jewell Parker Rhodes and Kelly McWilliams | Illustrator: Briana Mukodiri Uchendu | Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
What does sisterhood sound like? STOMP, CLAP! How does pride move? FLIP, FLAP! How do we uphold tradition? GO HARD, SNAP BACK! SOUL STEP!
Written by the mother-daughter duo Jewell Parker Rhodes and Kelly McWilliams, and gorgeously illustrated by Briana Mukodiri Uchendu, Soul Step is a loving ode to sisterhood and the tradition of stepping that lets women and girls, and people of all backgrounds, step loud and be proud.
I Will Dance
Author: Nancy Bo Flood | Illustrator: Julianna Swaney | Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Like many young girls, Eva longs to dance. But unlike many would-be dancers, Eva has cerebral palsy. She doesn’t know what dance looks like for someone who uses a wheelchair.
Then Eva learns of a place that has created a class for dancers of all abilities. Her first movements in the studio are tentative, but with the encouragement of her instructor and fellow students, Eva becomes more confident. Eva knows she’s found a place where she belongs. At last her dream of dancing has come true.
Cesaria Feels the Beat
Author: Denise Rosario Adusei | Illustrator: Priscilla Soares | Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
In this powerful and inspiring picture book, a deaf girl stands up for herself and takes off her shoes while dancing at her Carnival performance so she can feel the music through her bare feet.
Why We Dance: A Story of Hope and Healing
Author: Deidre Havrelock | Illustrator: Aly McKnight | Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
From Indigenous creative team Deidre Havrelock and Aly McKnight comes a powerful and exuberant story about the heritage, joy, and healing power of the Jingle Dress Dance—a perfect read-aloud picture book.
Boys Dance!
Author: John Robert Allman | Illustrator: Luciana Lozano | Publisher: Doubleday Books for Young Readers
Boys who love to dance are center stage in this encouraging, positive, rhyming picture book about guys who love to pirouette, jeté, and plié. Created in partnership with the American Ballet Theatre and with the input of their company's male dancers, here is a book that shows ballet is for everyone.
Written by the acclaimed author of A Is for Audra: Broadway's Leading Ladies from A to Z, this book subtly seeks to address the prejudice toward boys and ballet by showing the skill, hard work, strength, and smarts is takes to be a dancer. Fun and buoyant illustrations show boys of a variety of ages and ethnicities, making this the ideal book for any boy who loves dance. An afterword with photos and interviews with some of ABT's male dancers completes this empowering and joyful picture book.
Ho'Onani: Hula Warrior
Author: Heather Gale | Illustrator: Mika Song | Publisher: Tundra Books
An empowering celebration of identity, acceptance and Hawaiian culture based on the true story of a young girl in Hawaiʻi who dreams of leading the boys-only hula troupe at her school.
Stomp, Wiggle, Clap and Tap: My First Book of Dance
Author: Rachelle Burk | Illustrator: Alyssa De Asis | Publisher: Callisto Kids
Toddlers are natural dancers, and they love to move! Release some of that endless toddler energy and help them develop balance and coordination with this board book edition of Stomp, Wiggle, Clap, and Tap.
Colorful pictures offer toddlers visual clues for the movements, and the rhyming words make reading aloud feel like music. Little ones will learn to isolate individual body parts, like their hands, hips, arms, and toes, then harness their imagination with silly dance moves like Bouncy Ball, Ninja Kick, and Hula Hoop!
Set the stage for an active childhood with this fun book that gets toddlers moving.
