22 Picture Books Based on Song Lyrics

Are your favorite songs reimagined as picture books? Yes! Once you start reading these books, it’s hard to get the songs out of your head. What I love about these books is that even though the lyrics tell a story, they can often be reinterpreted to circumstances that relate to a young child such as a friend moving away, a mother who works outside the home, and bullying.

What are your favorite songs that you would like to see as a picture book? Thanks for sharing!

22 Picture Books Based on Song Lyrics

Beautiful Rainbow World by Suzee Ramirez and Lynne Raspet, original lyrics by Daria Marmaluk-Hajioannou

“Beautiful Rainbow World” by world-renowned children’s folk singer Daria celebrates the diversity of children around the world. Babies and toddlers will enjoy looking at the gorgeous photographs of children, and older children will be buoyed by the positive and inclusive message. [picture book, ages 1 and up]

What a Wonderful World song lyrics by Louis Armstrong, adapted by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss, and illustrated by Tim Hopgood

Louis Armstrong recorded What A Wonderful Life in 1967. The song sold over one million copies. We used the song for our first Multicultural Children’s Book Day video! [picture book, ages 3 and up]

p.s. Sign up to receive a free diverse children’s book through Multicultural Children’s Book Day. You simply post a review of that book to any social media channel during the last week of January.

This Train is Bound for Glory by Alice Faye Duncan, illustrated by Paul Kellam

The lyrics of this African American “sorrow song” spiritual are interwoven with an inclusive story about the people on board the “Glory Train.”  The train crosses a golden bridge into a new spiritual realm with pearly gates. It’s a magical and exuberant ride, with an angel as the conductor. [picture book, ages 3 and up]

Is This Love?: a family story based on the song by Bob Marley, adapted by Cedella Marley, illustrated by Alea Marley

Bob Marley’s iconic song takes a slight twist as his daughter, Cedella Marley, rewrites it as a big sister welcomes her new baby sister. A big sister pledges to love her baby sister as she grows up. She is the best big sister ever! [picture book, ages 3 and up]

A Thousand Years by Christina Perri, illustrated by Joy Hwang Ruiz

The pop song is reinvented as a mother telling her young daughter how much she loves her. [picture book, ages 3 and up]

Everything Possible by Fred Small, illustrated by Alison Brown

Fred Small’s song is turned into a picture book, empowering children to be anything they want to be. Embedded in the lyrics is a message of acceptance, including LGBTQIA+, which is the inspiration behind the song. This lovely picture book also comes in a Spanish version, Todo lo posible. [picture book, ages 2 and up]

Respect song lyrics by Otis Redding, illustrations by Rachel Moss

Otis Redding released the original song Respect in 1965. It became a signature hit for Aretha Franklin in 1967 when she reimagined the song and made a few lyric changes. This picture book combines Otis Redding’s lyrics with Aretha Franklin’s vision of a strong woman deserving respect … it’s an ode to all moms who work, both inside and outside the home! Otis Redding’s version was of a man desperate to keep his woman. [picture book, ages 2 and up]

The Tide is Rising: So Are We! A Climate Movement Anthem by Shoshana Meira Friedman, illustrated by Kiki Kita

This rhyming picture book, based on the song “The Tide is Rising,” empowers young readers to both understand climate change and to take action. The end matter includes music to sing the words as an anthem.  [nonfiction picture book, ages 4 and up]

With a little help from my friends song lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, illustrated by Henry Cole

It’s nearly impossible to read this book without hearing the Beatles song in your head! Henry Cole does a brilliant job of taking the lyrics of this famous song and turning it into a story of a friendship between two girls. Their friendship is able to surmount the difficulty of distance when one of them moves away. [picture book, ages 4 and up]

This Land is Your Land song lyrics by Bob Dylan, illustrated by Kathy Jakobsen

Woody Guthrie debuted This Land Is Your Land in 1940 and it has gone on to become a beloved folk song inspiring patriotism and inclusion. Illustrations of Bob Dylan’s lyrics in the picture book depict a road trip across America, celebrating the beauty of our great nation. [picture book, ages 3 and up]

If Not For You song lyrics by Bob Dylan, illustrated by David Walker

Bob Dylan’s 1970 song “If Not for You” is reinterpreted as a parent/child relationship of unconditional love. [picture book, ages 3 and up]

Don McLean’s American Pie: A Fable by Don Mclean

At first, I thought this picture book was just the song lyrics of American Pie made into a picture book story, but I was wrong! Don McLean himself tells the story — perhaps his autobiography or perhaps a fable — of his childhood as a paper delivery boy. In this story — perhaps about Don himself —  the newspaper delivery boy is lonely and has no friends. Then, one day, there is a note for him, and the newsboy makes his first friend. The friendly notes continue and they make the paper boy very happy. The notes inspire him to write songs. One day, the notes stop. His friend is gone, but is the music gone too? Even in death, his friend remembers the newsboy and a gift of an acoustic guitar finds its way to the boy. “Something has touched him deep inside.” [picture book, ages 4 and up]

African song lyrics by Peter Tosh, illustrated by Rachel Moss

This picture book is a celebration of children of African descent. The song “African” by Peter Tosh was originally released in 1977 on his second solo record, Equal Rights. Peter Tosh, along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, were members of the Jamaican reggae band, The Wailers [picture book, ages 1 and up]

Don’t Stop song lyrics by Christine McVie, illustrated by Nusha Ashjaee

Christine McVie wrote Don’t Stop for Fleetwood Mac as an anthem to pushing forward. In this picture book, her song is reimagined as a rabbit’s hibernation story waiting for spring. [picture book, ages 1 and up]

Good Vibrations song lyrics by Mike Love and Brian Wilson, illustrated by Paul Hoppe

The Beach Boys Mike Love and Brian Wilson encapsulated the surf culture of California in the 1960s so it’s appropriate that their song lyrics are reimagined in this picture book as a day at the beach for a little girl and her dog who spread goodwill everywhere they go. [picture book, ages 1 and up]

We’re Not Gonna Take It song lyrics by Dee Snider, illustrated by Margaret McCartney

Twisted Sister probably did not imagine their song as a Terrible Two anthem but it works! Their 1980s hair band’s antiestablishment anthem is reimagined as three diverse toddlers who resist what their parents want them to do. [picture book, ages 1 and up]

We Got the Beat song lyrics by Charlotte Caffey, illustrated by Kaitlyn Shea O’Connor

The 1980s all-girl band, The Go Go’s, is my jam from my college days when New Wave synth-rock graced every party. It’s entirely appropriate then, that this picture book would be in the form of a dance party where children and parents find their groove inside the house and outside in nature. [picture book, ages 1 and up]

These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ song lyrics by Lee Hazlewood, illustrated by Rachel Moss

These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ was an instant hit for Nancy Sinatra who recorded it in 1966. In this picture book, a very jealous cat must adjust to life when a new puppy joins the family. [picture book, ages 1 and up]

Move the Crowd song lyrics by Eric Barrier and William Griffin, illustrated by Kirk Parrish

American hip hop duo DJ. Eric B. & MC Rakim defined the golden age of rap in the 1980s as the DJ/MC.  Their hit single, Move the Crowd, is reimagined in this picture book as an adventure of a boy who gets dragged into a stereo where the world is colorless and dull. He transforms this world life into a vibrant dance party. [picture book, ages 3 and up]

Get Up Stand Up song lyrics by Bob Marley, by Cedella Marley, illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton

Bob Marley’s daughter, Cedella Marley, has taken her father’s anthem of peace, love, and truth and reenvisions it into an anti-bullying picture book. Her father would be proud! [picture book, ages 3 and up]