Drum Dream Girl by Margarita Engle; Review done by Elaine Alexander
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Engle, Margarita and Rafael Løpez. Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music. New You: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2015. ISBN: 9780544102293
SUMMARY
Inspired by the life of Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, who broke tradition to play the drums in an all girl band, this single poem book captures the bravery, hard work, and dedication that is often required to overcome obstacles and make your dreams a reality.
ANALYSIS
Between the alliteration and and dreamy illustrations, Drum Dream Girl takes readers on a magical journey where a young girl dreams passionately about the music inside herself, waiting to be released to the world. The appeal for child is two-fold. First, readers will be swept up by the language of the poem, which evokes the rhythm and language that captures the main character's desire to play the drums with the "quiet/secret/drumbeat/dreams" (Engle 10). Readers will instantly recognize the soul of a girl who has a dream too big to be contained. Second, the illustrations are filled with vivid images of mystical creatures, such as fiery dragons or dreamy mermaids. The proximity and playfulness on the page between the girl and these creatures seems to encapsulate the possibility that all things are possible, if you can dream them into existence. To further cement these images, the page spreads feature the main character flying with birds or tiptoeing up stacked drums through a starlit night sky as the moon smiles down. Words and art are truly paired together in this single poem picture book to stimulate the reader with maximum emotional impact and capture the persistence and beauty of following your dreams.
The story shows that twice she's told she can't play the drums, but each time, she's back playing them "dreaming/and drumming/alone" (Engle) to the delight of happy, colorful animals and smiling suns or moons. In one scene, Drum Dream Girl is floating in the clouds and her father must pull her back to earth with colorful tangles of ribbon. But it is this last time that her father relents, and offers to get her formal lessons, to "decide if her drums/deserved/to be heard." (Engle) It's such a pivotal moment in the poem, because while her father is pulling her back down to earth, his acquiesce shows that her perseverance has been worthwhile. Furthermore, readers will see the flight of butterflies and birds flowing across most of the page spreads, personifying the music stemming from this girl, that refuses to be contained.
Even the page with the startling reminder "that girls/on the island of music/had never played drums" (Engle) which is depicted by a caged drum with wings jutting out from the bars of the birdcage, the reader can sense the force of this girl's belief in herself and in the musical beat that flows through her. This is backed up by the cadence of the words that seems to mimic the sounds of drumming.
The book has a historical note in the back that details a brief biography of Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, a young girl of Chinese-African-Cuban decent who refused to accept the rules dictating that drumming was a male-only pursuit. She not only formed a band, but performed with her sisters, going on to become a famous musician, who once played for President Roosevelt. These details help to solidify the book's message and give additional emotional impact to the words.
Use & Highlight Poem
I'm including an except from the book, where Drum Dream Girl is finally able to convince her father to let her play and is sent to get lessons. According to the text, her persistence finally convinced her father to bring her to a music teacher to decide if her playing was good enough to warrant the lessons. This moment in the book holds such validation. In addition, it show that not only should you never give up on your dreams, but that hard work and practice is required to attain excellence.
Using this book for a poetry break would be an excellent moment to discuss the historic traditions that were not always favorable to females. Classes could talk about the unfairness of some rules. In addition, this is a great way to reinforce the importance of practice, of hard work, and of believing in yourself enough to overcome obstacles to achieving your dreams.
The drum dream girl's
teacher was amazed.
The girl knew so much
but he taught her more
and more
and more
and she practiced
and she practiced
and she practiced
until the teacher agreed
that she was ready
to play her small bongo drums
outdoors at a starlit cafe
that looked like a garden
where everyone who heard
her drum-bright music
sang
and danced
and decided
that girls should always
be allowed to play
drums
and both girls and boys
should feel free
to dream.
No comments:
Post a Comment