On an island of music
in a city of drumbeats
the drum dream girl
dreamed
of pounding tall conga drums
tapping small bongó drums
and boom boom booming
with long, loud sticks
on big, round, silvery
moon-bright timbales.
But everyone
on the island of music
in the city of drumbeats
believed that only boys
should play drums
so the drum dream girl
had to keep dreaming
quiet
secret
drumbeat
dreams.
You can read the whole poem which is the text of this picture book biography here.
Here is a video (very well done) of the whole book. You can see more books by Margarita Engle here. And more books by Rafael Lopez here. And here is some more information about Millo Castro Zaldarriaga.
Blurb from author web page: 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. Released in March 2015, this story is inspired by the childhood of Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, a Chinese-African-Cuban girl who broke Cuba's traditional taboo against female drummers.
I borrowed this book from a library because it is one of the titles on the Kirkus Best Books of the 21st Century (So Far). This book is still available but you will need to shop around - I have seen prices ranging from AUS$39 up to AUS$48. I would expect this book to be found in many public libraries. If you can find this book it would be a good one to share with a group of Grade 5 or 6 students or better yet pop it into the hands of your school music teacher especially if he/she is planning on doing some drumming or your school have invited drums for a performance.
Some of the awards for Drum Dream Girl:
- Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the 21st Century So Far
- NYPL 125 Books We Love For Kids
- National Geographic Around the World in 20 Books for Kids
- This Picture Book Life's 20 Terrific and True Picture Books
- Charlotte Zolotow Award for best picture book written in 2015
- 2016 Pura Belpré Award for illustration (Rafael Lopez)
- ALA Notable Children's Book
- APALA Award Honor
- International Latino Book Award, Most Inspirational Children’s Picture Book
- Book Riot's List of 100 Must-Read Picture Books For Kids and Adults
- A Mighty Girl 25 Books to Inspire Your Mighty Girl in 2017
- We're the People 2016 Summer Reading List
- Finalist, California Book Awards
- 2016 Bank Street Best Books of the Year
- School Library Journal Top 10 Latino Books for 2015
- School Library Journal Best Books of 2015
- Kirkus Best Informational Picture Books of 2015
- Top 15 Mighty Girl Books of 2015
- 100 magnificent Children’s Books of 2015 – SLJ Fuse#8
- 10 Books That Empower Kids to Stand Up and Speak Brightly Readbrightly.com
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