How to Sing a Song

This third book by the team that created the New York Times bestselling How to Read a Book and How to Write a Poem celebrates the magic of listening to the song that echoes inside you, and letting your music ring out.

Hush.

Now, turn up your ears

and listen

to the concert happening

all around you.

As this quiet overture builds to a full symphony, Newbery Medalist Kwame Alexander and singer-songwriter Randy Preston conduct a melody of a poem. Colorful notes are played by Caldecott Honoree Melissa Sweet’s distinctive artwork.

Surrounded by nature’s chorus and guided by words that vibrate like thunder, let the groove lead you on, until you can’t help but sing out from your soul!

How to Read a Book was an American Library Association Notable Book and was named a best book of the year by School Library Journal, Kirkus, and The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books. How to Write a Poem was a New York Times Best Illustrated Book and a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year.

Kwame Alexander is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of 47 books, including Booked; The Brainstormerz; The Mighty Macy; Black Star, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book; J vs. K, an illustrated novel he penned with Jerry Craft; and The Crossover, his Newbery Medal-winning novel turned Emmy® Award-winning Disney+ TV series. He regularly shares his passion for literacy, books and the craft of writing around the world, including Ghana, West Africa, where he opened the Barbara E. Alexander Memorial Library and Health Clinic. A recipient of the 2025 NAACP Image Award, Kwame is the founder of the literacy non-profit One Word at a Time. You can visit him at KwameAlexander.com

Randy Preston is an African Native American (Piscataway) composer, author, and performer, raised in the UK, Zimbabwe, and Kenya. He started writing music at the age of seven and never stopped. He taught English literature for eighteen years before collaborating with Kwame Alexander, performing at numerous schools and venues around the world. Preston wrote original songs for a number of picture books and children’s shows and composed the score for the musical Acoustic Rooster’s Barnyard Boogie, starring Indigo Blume.

Melissa Sweet has illustrated more than one hundred books, including Kwame Alexander’s How to Read a Book and How to Write a Poem, and has written and illustrated her own work. Her work has been featured in magazines, on greeting cards, and on living room walls. Melissa has received the Caldecott Honor Medal twice, among many other awards, including the Sibert Award, and is a New York Times bestselling author and artist. Melissa lives in Maine. You can visit her at melissasweet.net.