Books about composers for kids: biographies by age

A good book about a composer gives a child a person to go with the music: a boy who hated to practice, a girl who played for a president, a man who lived in 39 apartments. This page sorts 17 books and series by age. Borrow them from the library before you buy.

Ages 4 to 8: picture book biographies

Becoming Bach, by Tom Leonard. Bach tells his own story, from a family full of musicians to a life of writing music. The pictures show music as patterns that he sees all around him.

Play, Mozart, Play!, by Peter Sís. A short, playful book about a small boy whose father makes him practice all day, and who plays in his head when he cannot play outside.

The 39 Apartments of Ludwig van Beethoven, by Jonah Winter. Beethoven owned five pianos with no legs and lived in 39 apartments. The book asks how the pianos got from one home to the next. It is a joke book built on real facts.

Dancing Hands, by Margarita Engle, with pictures by Rafael López. Teresa Carreño was a girl from Venezuela who played the piano for President Lincoln at the White House. Read Hispanic and Latin American composers for kids.

The Music in George’s Head, by Suzanne Slade. How George Gershwin heard music in the noise of New York and wrote Rhapsody in Blue. Read the Rhapsody in Blue guide.

Handel, Who Knew What He Liked, by M. T. Anderson. Handel’s father said no to music, so the boy smuggled a keyboard into the attic. A funny, true account of a stubborn man.

Strange Mr. Satie, by M. T. Anderson. Erik Satie owned a set of gray velvet suits, all the same, and wrote music that broke the rules. Read Satie for kids.

For the Love of Music, by Elizabeth Rusch. The story of Maria Anna Mozart, the older sister who toured Europe as a child star beside her famous brother.

Who Is Florence Price? Students at a music school in New York wrote and drew this book about a composer whose music was almost forgotten. Read Florence Price for kids.

Ages 6 to 10: books about one piece

The books of Anna Harwell Celenza. Each one tells the story behind a single famous work: The Farewell Symphony, Pictures at an Exhibition, Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and Saint-Saëns’s Danse Macabre. Read one, then play the piece. They pair well with the listening guides on this site.

Beethoven Lives Upstairs, by Barbara Nichol. A boy writes letters to his uncle about the wild man who has rented the room above. The story began as an audio recording. Read Classical Kids audio stories.

Ages 7 to 11: series

Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers, by Mike Venezia. Short books with cartoons, real paintings, and jokes. There is one for each of the big names. They are good for a child who reads alone and likes to laugh.

Who Was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart?, by Yona Zeldis McDonough. A short chapter book from the well-known series with the big-headed drawings on the covers.

The books of Opal Wheeler. Older story biographies with titles such as Mozart, the Wonder Boy and Sebastian Bach, the Boy from Thuringia. They were written in the 1930s and 1940s, and homeschool families still read them aloud. Each one has simple piano pieces printed inside.

Ages 9 and up: collections

Lives of the Musicians, by Kathleen Krull. Short, funny chapters on about 20 composers, with what they ate, what they wore, and what the neighbors thought of them. It is a good first pick for a family that wants one book.

The Story of the Orchestra, by Robert Levine. Half of the book covers composers by era and half covers the instruments. It comes with recordings to go with each page.

Clara Schumann: Piano Virtuoso, by Susanna Reich. A full life story with photographs, for a strong reader. Read Clara Schumann for kids.

Which book for which use

You want	Choose
A read-aloud for a five-year-old	Becoming Bach, or Play, Mozart, Play!
A laugh	The 39 Apartments of Ludwig van Beethoven
One book for a year of composer study	Lives of the Musicians
A book for each composer of the month	The Mike Venezia series
A book to go with one piece	The Celenza books
A reader for a nine-year-old	Who Was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart?

How to use a composer book

1. Read it at the start of the month. Then play that composer’s music all month.
2. Play as you read. When the book names a piece, stop and play one minute of it.
3. Write one page. Have your child fill in a composer study notebook page with three facts and one favorite piece.
4. Check the story. Some of these books add made-up scenes. Ask, “How could the writer know that?” Then look up the composer in classical composers for kids.

For a full plan, read composer study for homeschool and composer of the month ideas. For books for younger children, read picture books about music and instruments.