https://doi.org/10.1177/1048371317742113 General Music Today 2018, Vol. 31(2) 40–46 © National Association for Music Education 2017 DOI:10.1177/1048371317742113 journals.sagepub.com/home/gmt Column Since the 1990s, general music teachers have proposed ways to connect children’s literature and music in mean- ingful ways. Several authors have published in profes- sional journals about teaching music through children’s books. They provide rationales for music and language connections (Calogero, 2002; Eppink, 2009; Fallin, 1995; Gauthier, 2005; Miller, 2008; Paul, 2004), identify cate- gories of children’s literature for use in music classrooms (Calogero, 2002; Miller, 2008; Paul, 2004), and create structures for planning integrative lessons (Eppink, 2009). Additionally, authors have generated lists of chil- dren’s literature and described sample lessons connecting music and books for music teachers to use in their general music classrooms (Calogero, 2002; Gauthier, 2005; Miller 2008; Paul, 2004). The consensus of these authors is that children’s literature is rich with opportunities to enhance knowledge and skills in the domains of music and language. A purpose of this column is to explore, create, and describe ways in which children’s literature—as well as other aspects of language literacy—can be employed in general music classrooms. In addition, readers will dis- cover ready-to-use music activities as well as expand their knowledge of language literacy, such as vocabulary acquisition and polysemous words (Cardany, 2012, 2015), phonological awareness (Cardany, 2011a), read- ing comprehension (Cardany, 2011b), and transactional reading theory (Cardany, 2014). In this article, the author describes and employs a whole language technique (i.e., the shared book experience) in a music lesson using chil- dren’s literature, as well as singing and reading icons for music concepts of pitch and rhythm. The Story Anna Dewdney’s (2017) publication, Little Excavator, is a delightful picture book for young children and perfect for a musical shared book experience in a group setting (see Figure 1). Readers meet the big rigs—’dozer, loader, dump truck, backhoe, and crane—all doing their con- struction jobs. Little Excavator is eager to help on the lot but usually falls short of the task at hand. The big rigs help Little Excavator out of trouble when it tries to do the same work as the others—digging holes and loading junk. With each effort the others remind Little Excavator that it is too short, too small, or too weak, and their paren- tal advice is to wait for “someday when you’re big.” Despite the failed efforts to dig, lug, dump, and haul like the big rigs, one task fits just right—the one for which being small is exactly what is needed. The big rigs cheer Little Excavator’s success in hauling an apple tree across a narrow bridge, and then digging its hole and lifting and planting it. With the job completed, the construction of a community park project is accomplished. Dewdney’s text has a predictable sequence of exposi- tion of characters and setting followed by a series of events performed with repetitive text, which serve to establish a problem for resolution. Embedded in the story are several positive messages. The big rigs demonstrate patience with 742113GMT XX X 10.1177/1048371317742113General Music TodayCardany research-article 2017 1 The University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USA Corresponding Author: Audrey Berger Cardany, The University of Rhode Island, 105 Upper College Road, Kingston, RI 02831, USA. Email: Audrey.Cardany@uri.edu A Musical Shared Book Experience for Little Excavator Audrey Berger Cardany 1 Abstract Little Excavator, a recent publication by Anna Dewdney, is a delightful picture book for young children and perfect for a musical shared book experience in a group setting for preschool and first-grade children. In this article, connections between music learning and the typical shared book experience are outlined. Musical ways to share the book and extension activities for pitch and rhythm concepts are provided. The author includes alignments to National Core Music Standards as well as English Language Common Core Standards for music and reading teachers. Keywords children’s literature, early childhood general music, elementary general music, English language arts, shared book experience