2022 in Music Book Reviews

Have you ever wondered what inspired some of the most famous pieces of music? Well, in this wonderful book written and illustrated by James Mayhew, the stories behind many brilliant pieces of music are told including The William Tell Overture, The Flight of the Bumblebee and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. I enjoyed this book very much. In my opinion it is a book that adults will enjoy as much as children, and I would say it is a book for children over, probably 9 or 10 years old.

In February I read The Story Orchestra: Four Seasons In One Day. A lovely tale about Isabelle and her puppy, Pickle making their way to the Spring Festival. throughout their day Isabelle and Pickle experience weather from all four seasons in just one day. Using excerpts from The Four Seasons by Vivaldi, and having a button, that is light touch so even small children can press it, this is a great book for children of all ages.

Tala is a little girl with super-powers! Tala lives in Music Metropolis, where some of the people who live there have super powers given to them through the power of music – yes music really is that powerful. A story for young children – and one my daughter regularly gets out to be her bedtime read – this book introduces rhythm in a fun way.

What child does not like a lift-the-flap book? My children, both of them, absolutely adore them. This book from the publisher Usborne Musical Books, asks and answers questions about music. It is a great and engaging non-fiction book for children who are starting to be interested in music. With the flaps to lift up to find out the answers to the questions posed it is great for younger children, probably under 7 or 8 year olds I would say.

The second book by Vicky Weber that I have read with my children this year, this is another great book for introducing musical concepts to children – in this book how musical notes can move up or down a scale, or move in music notation – within a lovely age-appropriate story. There are also some other themes of pushing yourself to try new things and working together in this book aimed at very young readers.

I really like this non-fiction book for children. Full of engaging and informative facts about all sorts of music, not just about the lives of dead, white composers, the authors have written a great, fun book that both I and my 8 year old really enjoyed.

This book from publishers Usborne Books is a sound book. All about The Planets by composer Gustav Holst, which in itself is a fantastic piece of music for children to listen to, children can press the light touch button to hear excerpts from Holst’s famous orchestral suite. The book is beautifully illustrated by Morgan Huff, and a sound book is always a winner in our house. This is a great introduction to a fantastic piece of music.

This is a follow up book, and what feels like the final book of a series of absolutely beautiful and lovely books about musical animals. We meet the piano playing Bear in the first book of this series, and this one returns to the story of the Bear and what happens to him after he has his own Little Bear. It is a very relatable book for parents about how life changes after you have children, while being a lovely story for children. My children and I have loved reading all of the books in this series, and this one is no exception.

The Why Squad are a group of children who love their music classes and finding out as much as they can about music. In this book by Nathan Holder and illustrated by Charity Russell they learn about instruments from West Africa, and their exploration of these instruments takes them on an adventure. Perfectly pitched for younger readers, this lovely book is a great springboard for talking to children aged between about 4 and 6 or 7 about musical instruments they may not already have heard of and expanding their musical horizons.