Synopses & Reviews
Girls cannot be drummers. Long ago on an islandand#160;filled withand#160;music, no one questioned that ruleandmdash;until the drum dream girl. In her city of drumbeats, she dreamed of pounding tall congas and tapping small bongandoacute;s. 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.
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Inspired by the childhood of Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, a Chinese-African-Cuban girl who broke Cubaand#39;s traditional taboo against female drummers, Drum Dream Girl tells an inspiring true story for dreamers everywhere.
Review
A
Kirkus Best Children's Book of 2012
A Bank Street College of Education Best Book
* "A beautiful tale of perseverance."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"Readers will be enchanted."—VOYA
"[A] lyrical glimpse of early twentieth-century Cuba."—Booklist
"Engles writing is customarily lovely."—Publishers Weekly
"[A] remarkable, intimate depiction of Fefa's struggle with dyslexia; Engle is masterful at using words to evoke this difficulty, and even those readers unfamiliar with the condition will understand its meaning through her rich use of imagery and detail."—Bulletin
"The idea of a wild book on which to let her words sprout is one that should speak to those with reading difficulties and to aspiring poets as well."—School Library Journal
Review
andquot;A beautiful account of a young girland#39;s bravery and her important contribution toward gender equality in the creative arts.andquot;
andmdash;Kirkus
Synopsis
In this picture book bursting with vibrance and rhythm,and#160;a girl dreams ofand#160;playing the drumsand#160;in 1930s Cuba, when the music-filled island had a taboo against female drummers.
Synopsis
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 bongos. 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.
Inspired by the childhood of Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, a Chinese-African-Cuban girl who broke Cuba's traditional taboo against female drummers, Drum Dream Girl tells an inspiring true story for dreamers everywhere.
Synopsis
Newbery Honor-winner Margarita Engle tells her most personal story to date, a glowing portrait in verse of her Cuban grandmother as a young girl struggling with dyslexia.
Synopsis
Fefa struggles with words. She has word blindness, or dyslexia, and the doctor says she will never read or write. Every time she tries, the letters jumble and spill off the page, leaping and hopping away like bullfrogs. How will she ever understand them? But her mother has an idea. She gives Fefa a blank book filled with clean white pages. "Think of it as a garden," she says. Soon Fefa starts to sprinkle words across the pages of her wild book. She lets her words sprout like seedlings, shaky at first, then growing stronger and surer with each new day. And when her family is threatened, it is what Fefa has learned from her wild book that saves them.
About the Author
Margarita Engle is the award-winning author of the Newbery Honor book The Surrender Tree, as well as The Poet Slave of Cuba, Tropical Secrets, The Firefly Letters, and Hurricane Dancers. She lives with her husband in Northern California. Visit her at www.margaritaengle.com.