The repetition of this inclusive worda word that implies all the citizens on the islandin two different lines in two different stanzas. In Lines 11 and 50, everyone declares only boys can play drums. A note tells how Afro-Chinese-Cuban Millo went on to a world-famous musician who played alongside jazz greats, in addition to changing hearts and minds with her beats. The primary theme of Drum Dream Girl is the transformation of gender roles in Cubaspecifically the gendered role of drummers. Margarita Engle’s poem makes a striking picture book narrative and is set against the vibrating tropical colors of Rafael López’s lush illustrations. Eventually her father found her a teacher who listened to her, and taught her, and gave her the chance to change the way people thought about girls and drumming. This book is based on the story of Chinese-African-Cuban girl Millo Castro Zaldarriaga who was discouraged from pursuing music in Cuba because drums were just. She dared to drum anyway, “tall conga drums / small bongo drums / and big, round, silvery / moon-bright timbales … Her hands seemed to fly / as they rippled / rapped / and pounded / all the rhythms / of her drum dreams.” Her father said no when her sisters asked ten-year-old Millo to join their band. She dreamed of drumming, but only boys and men learned how to play at that time. Millo Castro Zaldarriaga was born in Cuba in the 1920s and grew up attuned to the rhythms in the world around her, and inside her. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015Īges 4-8 Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music by Margarita Engle
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |