Amazing Grace: The American Spiritual

Children’s Books & Resources for Educators

The Amazing Grace experience doesn’t end with the performance. We have curated a selection of educational materials to complement the concert and enrich understanding. Teachers are welcomed and encouraged to have students watch segments of the recorded event and to extend the experience with these activities.

For Music Educators

Books

See Decolonizing the Music Room for a wealth of related materials and information.

Take the Black Voices Matter Pledge, coauthored by nine Black musicians including Amazing Grace soloist Reginald Mobley, to do your part to make the music industry more antiracist.

Read Embracing Unfamiliar Cultures in the Music Classroom, an article with specific guidelines and protocols for exposing children to music from diverse cultures.

Visit the Institute for Composer Diversity and use their resources, including the Composer Diversity Database and Works Diversity Database.

Use the Composers of Color Resource Project for music theory resources including a list of public domain scores by composers of color.

Find new music and recordings from the Spirituals Database.

Browse new choral works by Black composers.

young readers

Check out the Beautiful Blackbird Festival, a project of Indigo Arts Alliance!

All Night, All Day: A Child's First Book of African-American Spirituals by Ashley Bryan
Maine-based artist Bryan shares beautiful, colorful illustrations alongside classic Black spirituals with piano accompaniment and guitar chords.

Sing a Song: How Lift Every Voice and Sing Inspired Generations by Kelly Starling Lyons, Keith Mallett (Illustrator)
Inspired by Lift Every Voice and Sing and the song's enduring significance, Lyons and Mallett tell a story about the generations of families who gained hope and strength from the song's inspiring words.

Little Bird's Flock by the Telling Room’s Publishing Workshop, illustrations by Ashley Halsey Little Bird’s Flock was inducted into The Library of Congress Center for the Book representing the state of Maine in 2019 as the children’s book of the year.

Ashley Bryan: Words to my Life’s Song by Ashley Bryan, Bill McGuinness
Bryan’s inspiring autobiography is full of art, photographs, and the poignant never-say-never tale of his rich life, from growing up in the Depression to life on Maine’s Cranberry Isles.

middle grade

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt
The town disapproves of Tucker, a minister’s son, befriending Lizzie, a girl from Malaga Island. Tucker and Lizzie must work to save Lizzie’s neighbors from being forced out of their homes.

Clayton Byrd Goes Underground by Rita Williams-Garcia, Frank Morrison (Illustrator)
When Clayton’s grandpa dies and his mother forbids him from playing jazz, he runs away to join a band, the Bluesmen.

Garvey’s Choice by Nikki Grimes
Garvey, who feels like a failure because he isn’t interested in sports, finds a whole new world when he joins his school’s chorus.

Let Me Hear a Rhyme by Tiffany Jackson
In late-90’s Brooklyn, Steph’s friends must construct an elaborate lie as his rap music becomes popular after he is murdered.

Young adult

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
Nothing–from her mother losing her job to having a song go viral for all the wrong reasons–will stop Bri from her efforts to become the next great rapper.

Decoded by Jay-Z
In this completely unique autobiography, Jay-Z tells his story through lyrics, illustration, and the provocative language he has become world-famous for.

Finding Yvonne by Brandy Colbert
As if grappling with knowing she might not be good enough at violin to go to a conservatory wasn’t hard enough for a high schooler, Yvonne then must deal with an unexpected pregnancy.