Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life
Clay Aiken
 The book focuses on the people who have been most influential in Aiken's life. He narrates his many conflicts with his birth father and stepfather, and the bullying that he had to endure as a child, then reveals how he eventually learned to accept himself as he was, rather than try to conform to other people's expectations. Not merely a tale of overcoming adversity, Learning to Sing also speaks of ways in which he was positively shaped as he recounts experiences with his mother, grandparents, siblings, teachers, friends, and religion. Along the way, Aiken demonstrates his facility as a storyteller, regaling the reader with tales both humorous and heart-breaking. Contrary to expectations, American Idol is barely mentioned in the book.