Linda Soules Releases 'So You Want To Be A Singer,' a Kids' Guide to Vocal Training and Singing Careers

Author Linda Soules has released So You Want To Be A Singer: A Kids' Guide to Singing, Vocal Training, Music Performance, and the Talented Artists Who Share Their Voices with the World, a 38-page illustrated children's nonfiction book for readers ages 10 to 14. The book is listed at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1972766260 under ISBN 978-1-972766-26-2. It explains how a singing voice works, what professional vocal training involves, and what a performing career asks of the people who pursue it. It is the latest entry in Soules's So You Want To Be A… series, which has more than 60 published titles. The book's description lists three 2026 or named honors, including first place in the Arts/Music category of the Purple Dragonfly Book Awards.

Career books for middle-grade readers often settle for a list of job duties and a few inspirational anecdotes. Music careers are especially prone to this treatment, because many young people first meet singing through televised talent competitions, where years of preparation are compressed into a single audition and a verdict. So You Want To Be A Singer takes a different approach. It sets out to describe the work behind a vocal career: the years of lessons, the physical discipline of caring for a voice, and the collaborators who make a performance possible. The book is written for children who sing in the car, in the shower, or alone in their rooms and want to know whether that habit could become a profession.

The technical core of the book is a plain-language explanation of the voice as an instrument. Soules covers four concepts that vocal teachers use daily: breath support, resonance, register, and placement. The book explains how a singer's anatomy, health, and emotional state shape the sound, noting that everything from a common cold to the feelings a performer carries into a room can change a voice. It describes how trained singers learn to use their voices fully without damaging them. It also argues that understanding the science of sound matters as much as feeling the music, a point aimed at young readers who may assume singing is purely a matter of natural talent.

The second half of the book turns from technique to performance. It examines what it means to bring emotional truth to material a singer may have performed a thousand times, whether on a musical theatre stage, in a recording studio, or at an audition. It surveys how classical, jazz, pop, and session singing each place different demands on the voice and the performer. Readers also meet the team behind a singer: vocal coaches, accompanists, sound engineers, and musical directors. The book describes how these collaborators work together so one voice can succeed in one moment. It closes with the shape of a real training life, from first lessons to professional work, and steps readers can take now to test their interest.

The book's central distinction is its refusal to simplify. Its description states that it is written for children who deserve real answers, and that its tone never talks down to the reader. It addresses what singing careers cost as well as what they give back, a balance that career guides for young readers frequently omit. Illustrations throughout accompany the explanations of vocal mechanics and studio roles. Within the series, the book also reflects a consistent editorial method: each title is built to pull back the curtain on a real profession, covering its rewards, its difficulties, and the path to enter it. The singer volume applies that method to a field where public perception and daily reality diverge sharply.

"Young readers are smarter and more curious than the publishing world often assumes, and they deserve the real picture of a career, including the hard parts," said Linda Soules, author of the So You Want To Be A… series.

The book's awards listing gives it a record before broad release. The description cites a 2026 Purple Dragonfly Book Award, first place, in Arts/Music; a 2026 NYC Big Book Award in the Educational Series (Career) category; and the Literary Titan Gold Book Award. It also notes that the broader series has earned recognition, including a Grand Prize at the 2026 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards and a Silver Award in Children's Nonfiction at the 2026 CIPA EVVY Book Awards. Readers and gatekeepers weighing a new title in a crowded children's nonfiction market often look to such designations as one signal of quality, though they are independent of the book's content.

The audience is broad. The primary reader is a child between 10 and 14 who is curious about singing, whether through school choir, musical theatre, church or community groups, or private study. Parents choosing between voice lessons and other activities can use the book to see what sustained training entails. Music teachers and choir directors may find it useful for explaining why technique matters and how a singer's support team operates. School and public librarians building career-exploration shelves have a title that connects music to adjacent roles such as sound engineering and musical direction. The description also points to readers who simply love to sing and want to understand why their voice behaves as it does.

So You Want To Be A Singer is available through Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1972766260. The book runs 38 pages and carries ISBN 978-1-972766-26-2, which booksellers and libraries can use to search for and order it. Current pricing and available formats are shown on the Amazon listing. No subscription, account, or special software is required to read the book. Educators, librarians, and parents who want to see how the series presents its subjects can review the listing's description, which outlines the book's topics, intended age range, and the awards associated with it. Media seeking review information or interviews with the author can contact the spokesperson named in this release.

The singer title sits within a series that Soules has designed on a large scale. The collection is envisioned to span more than 180 titles in total, with over 60 published to date and new releases arriving on a steady cadence. Subjects range from astronauts and marine biologists to magicians, stunt performers, and roller coaster designers. The planned breadth reflects the stated goal of the series: to leave readers with the sense that the world is wider, more interesting, and more reachable than they imagined. For music-minded readers, the singer book offers an entry point into performing-arts careers, while the wider series lets curious children compare very different professions in a consistent format.

Soules came to children's publishing after 25 years in law and finance, where she advised hedge funds and sophisticated financial institutions. She is the author and creator of the So You Want To Be A… series. Her stated philosophy is straightforward: never talk down to kids. She holds that young readers are more capable than they are often given credit for, and that books for them should respect their intelligence while sparking real enthusiasm. That conviction shapes each title's structure, from its candid treatment of costs and challenges to its use of professional vocabulary explained in context. The singer volume follows the same rules, presenting vocal technique and performance work as serious disciplines that reward study.

About Linda Soules and the So You Want To Be A… series: Linda Soules is the author and creator of the So You Want To Be A… series, a growing collection of career-exploration books for readers ages 10 to 14 and beyond. The series is envisioned to span more than 180 titles, with over 60 published to date. Each book pulls back the curtain on a real career, covering its joys, its challenges, and the path to get there. Before turning to children's publishing, Soules spent 25 years in law and finance. So You Want To Be A Singer is available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1972766260.