Tap for the beats: A celebration of music

Book: Drum Dream Girl

Author: Margarita Engle

Illustrator: Rafael Lopez

Books from the same author: The poet slave of Cuba, The Surrender Tree, The Lightning Dreamer.

Age : 3 plus 

Winner of the Pura Belpre Award 2016 for best illustration, this book spreads the message of "Follow your dreams, and They Know the way." It is historical fiction based on the true story of Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, a Cuban drummer. A short book review about the book here :

Story

In An Island of Music a little girl dreams, her dream is to become a drummer. Always she imagines pounding conga drums, tapping bongo drums and booming with long sticks on timbales.

But everyone on that island believed only boys should play the drums and not girls., so her dream remains always a dream.

She is always busy watching the men play the drums in outdoor cafes and carnivals. Tables and chairs become drums in her home. 

Her sisters invite her to play drums in their all-girls band, but her father refuses and sends her to a teacher to find out whether she is really good at drums. With the help of the teacher how she makes people tap for her beats is the rest of the story.

Review 

This book, filled with beautiful and poetic illustrations, celebrates music, breaks gender stereotypes, and inspires children to follow their dreams.