My boys love books with which they can sing along.  Over the years we’ve collected a large number of such books.  These are books where someone has taken a song – generally a well-known song, illustrated it, and published it as a book.  The result is the fun of singing, all of the words right there on the page (in case you don’t know them all), and beautiful illustrations to go along with them.

I asked my boys to come up with their favorites, here is the [large] pile they selected:

John Lithgow’s, I Got Two Dogs, illustrated by Robert Neubecker.  This song is fun, silly, and charmingly illustrated.  If you’ve ever experienced a troublesome but loveable dog, you’ll enjoy this book.  Our version came with a CD, which was helpful for me as I didn’t know the song previously.

John Lennon’s Imagine, illustrated by Jean Jullien.  I love this song.  I sang it to my boys every night as a lullaby.  We all enjoy singing this illustrated version together.

Jimmy Kennedy’s The Teddy Bears’ Picnic, illustrated by Michael Hague.  We first encountered this book at a library story time.  My boys loved the illustrations with the faces in the trees and the beautiful fairies spreading their magic.  We like Hague’s detailed interpretation of this song.

Woodie Guthrie’s This Land is Your Land, illustrated by Kathy Jakobsen.  A wonderfully illustrated version of Guthrie’s classic folk song.  It asks important questions and reinforces the essential value of American unity within the context of a song.  The illustrations are detailed and on-point.  Wonderfully done.

The Erie Canal, illustrated by Peter Spier (my boys also like his version of The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night).  Another illustrated folk song.  Spier’s illustrations provide a good pictorial history lesson about life on and along the Erie Canal during the 1800s.

Tom Paxton’s Going to the Zoo, illustrated by Karen Lee Schmidt.  This is a fun song that always has my boys singing along enthusiastically (even though they don’t like zoos!).  Its peppy rhythm gets them going every time.  They also love the fun illustrations.

Mary Ann Hoberman’s Miss Mary Mack, illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott.  What happens when an elephant runs away from the zoo and jumps a fence?  This book is full of unexpected fun.  Hoberman expanded on the classic folk song Miss Mary Mack, and Westcott put together some delightful illustrations to go along with it.

Joe Raposo’s Sing, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld.  Don’t be afraid to sing your own song.  An important message, simply illustrated.

Woodie Guthrie’s Bling Blang, illustrated by Vladamir Radunsky (my boys also like their Howdi Do).  My oldest son wanted to hear this book over and over and over again when he was 3 and 4 years old.  We all still enjoy it.  This is a fun song, and the book is full of playful drawings.

Will Hillenbrand’s Fiddle-I-Fee.  This book contains fun illustrations of a traditional song.  We love how the seasons, and the mama, change each time the animals gather to make music.  My boys still love spotting the mice.

David Mallet’s Inch by Inch: The Garden Song, illustrated by Ora Eitan.  A sweet, simply illustrated book about the beauty of growing a garden.

Bob Dylan’s If Not for You, illustrated by David Walker.  Walker interprets this song as showing a parent’s love for his child.  He reminds parents how much beauty our kids bring to our lives.  It’s full of very sweet illustrations.

Louis Armstrong’s version of What a Wonderful World, illustrated by Tim Hopgood.  A lovely, bright visual interpretation of this song.

Harnick and Bock’s Sunrise, Sunset, illustrated by Ian Schoenherr.  This one always makes me cry.  It is beautiful.

Tom Glazer’s On Top of Spaghetti, illustrated by Paul Brett Johnson.  This book is a funny, slapstick version of the silly song about a runaway meatball.

Hush Little Baby, by Sylvia Long.  A less-consumerist take on the traditional lullaby.  Perfect for bedtime.

Yarrow and Lipton’s Puff, the Magic Dragon, illustrated by Eric Puybaret.  I love the last illustrations in this book, when we see Jackie Paper all grown up and watching his daughter meet Puff.  Wonderful.

Other fun books of illustrated songs we enjoy are (my boys insisted I list these, too):

John Langstaff’s Frog went a-Courtin’, illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky

Over in the Meadow, illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats

John Denver’s Grandma’s Feather Bed

Knick Knack Paddy Whack, illustrated by Christiane Engel

Mary Ann Hoberman’s There Once was a Man Named Michael Finnegan, illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott

Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind, illustrated by Jon Muth

Maria Child’s Over the River and Through the Wood, illustrated by Matt Tavares

Harriet Ziefert’s When I First Came to this Land, illustrated by Simms Taback

The First Day of Winter, by Denise Fleming

Yankee Doodle: A Revolutionary Tale, by Gary Chalk

Walking in a Winter Wonderland, illustrated by Tim Hopgood

I had a Rooster, by Laura Vacaro Seeger

Obviously we love books of illustrated songs.  Do you like them?  Do you have a favorite we didn’t list?  If you want suggestions beyond these, let me know.  We have still more….

*As a note, many of the hardcover versions of these books (and even a couple of the paperback versions) come with CDs to help you learn the song, if you don’t know it already.

If you’re looking for more book recommendations, you might enjoy the following book reviews:
Our Favorite Snow Books
Chapter Books with Strong Female Characters
Picture Books with Strong Female Characters
My 6 Favorite Books for One-Year-Olds
Hello Baby
Omnibeasts
Zen Shorts
Pete the Cat: I Love my White Shoes
Something from Nothing
Woolbur
Goodnight Moon
The Gruffalo
Miss Rumphius
Bear Snores On
Barnyard Dance