The Best Performing Arts Books for Kids

It usually starts before anyone signs up for anything. A toddler hears a beat and bends at the knees. A four-year-old drums the kitchen table through an entire dinner. A second grader announces she is going to be in the play, and then has to wait two agonizing weeks for the cast list. Performing is one of the few things children do that is both completely private—you practice alone, badly, for a long time—and completely public, in front of a room that has come specifically to watch. Books about it get to hold both halves at once: the sound in a child’s head, and the terrifying, wonderful moment somebody else finally hears it.

Drawing from Bookroo’s collection of 1,570 performing arts books, our editors chose fourteen favorites and deliberately spread them across the three disciplines children actually turn up for—music, dance, and theater—instead of stacking the list with ballerinas. You’ll find wordless dance, an orchestra assembled one instrument at a time, tap and jazz history, a backstage graphic novel, and the classics teachers keep re-shelving. After the shortlist, use the age shelves below: stomp-along board books for the youngest, read-alouds for recital and audition season, and chapter books for readers who have started taking the stage seriously.