Castrovilla, Selene. Saved By The Music. Lodi, NJ: WestSide Book, 2009.

Fifteen year old Willow reluctantly spends her summer on an old barge helping her aunt convert the vessel into a floating concert hall, but her time there is brightened by the introverted and mysterious teenage boy living alone on a neighboring sailboat.

Engle, Margarita. Drum Dream Girl.Boston: HMH Books for Young Readers, 2015.

Girls cannot be drummers. Long ago on an island filled with music, no one questioned that rule—until the drum dream girl. In her city of drumbeats, she dreamed of pounding tall congas and tapping small bongós. She had to keep quiet. She had to practice in secret. But when at last her dream-bright music was heard, everyone sang and danced and decided that both girls and boys should be free to drum and dream.

Reynolds, Peter H. Playing From The Heart. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 2017.

When a young boy begins to play on his family's piano, reveling in the fun of plunking the keys, his father signs him up for lessons so that he can learn to play properly. With his father's encouragement, Raj learns notes, then scales, then songs, and finally classical pieces that his father can recognize and be proud of. But the more Raj practices and the more skilled he becomes, the less he enjoys playing, until he grows up and stops playing altogether. But when his father becomes ill and asks Raj to play for him, will Raj remember how to play from the heart?

Ryan, Pam Munoz. Echo. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc., 2016.

Lost in the Black Forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and finds himself entwined in a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica--and decades later three children, Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California find themselves caught up in the same thread of destiny in the darkest days of the twentieth century, struggling to keep their families intact, and tied together by the music of the same harmonica.

Sullivan, Sandy and Barry Root. Passing the Music Down. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2011.

A boy and his family befriend a country fiddler, who teaches the boy all about playing the old tunes, which the boy promises to help keep alive. Inspired by Melvin Wine and Jake Krack.