DRUM DREAM GIRL
How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music
Margarita ngle Newbery Honor Winner
Rafael López
DRUM DREAM GIRL How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music
DRUM DREAM GIRL How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music
poem by Margarita Engle
illustrations by Rafael López
SCHOLASTIC INC.
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O n an island of music in a city of drumbeats the drum dream girl dreamed
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of pounding tall conga drums tapping small bongó drums and boom boom booming
with long, loud sticks on big, round, silvery moon-bright timbales .
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But everyone on the island of music in the city of drumbeats believed that only boys should play drums
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so the drum dream girl had to keep dreaming quiet secret drumbeat dreams.
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At outdoor cafés that looked like gardens she heard drums played by men but when she closed her eyes
she could also hear her own imaginary music.
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When she walked under wind-wavy palm trees in a flower-bright park she heard the whir of parrot wings the clack of woodpecker beaks the dancing tap
of her own footsteps and the comforting pat
of her own heartbeat.
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and the dragon clang of costumed drummers wearing huge masks.
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At home, her fingertips rolled out their own dreamy drum rhythm on tables and chairs . . .
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the brave drum dream girl dared to play tall conga drums small bongó drums and big, round, silvery moon-bright timbales.
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Her hands seemed to fly as they rippled rapped and pounded all the rhythms of her drum dreams.
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Her big sisters were so excited that they invited her to join their new all-girl dance band
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but their father said only boys should play drums.
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So the drum dream girl had to keep dreaming and drumming alone
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until finally her father offered to find a music teacher who could decide if her drums deserved to be heard.
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The drum dream girl’s teacher was amazed. The girl knew so much but he taught her more
and more and more
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and she practiced and she practiced and she practiced
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until the teacher agreed that she was ready to play her small bongó drums
outdoors at a starlit café that looked like a garden
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where everyone who heard her dream-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.
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Historical Note
This poem was inspired by the childhood of a Chinese-African-Cuban girl who broke Cuba’s traditional taboo against female drummers. In 1932, at the age of ten, Millo Castro Zaldarriaga performed with her older sisters as Anacaona, Cuba’s first “all-girl dance band.” Millo became a world- famous musician, playing alongside all the American jazz greats of the era. At age fifteen, she played her bongó drums at a New York birthday celebration for U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, where she was enthusiastically cheered by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. There are now many female drummers in Cuba. Thanks to Millo’s courage, becoming a drummer is no longer an unattainable dream for girls on the island.
Acknowledgments
I thank God for creative dreams. I am indebted to the wonderful autobiography written by Millo’s sister: Anacaona: The Amazing Adventures of Cuba’s First All-Girl Dance Band by Alicia Castro, with Ingrid Kummels and Manfred Schäfer. Special thanks to my family, my editors Reka Simonsen and Jeannette Larson, and designer Elizabeth Tardiff. —M.E.
The illustrations in this book were done in acrylic paint on wood board. The text type was set in Amescote. The display type was set in Cathodelic.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007. Text copyright © 2015 by Margarita Engle. Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Rafael López. All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, by arrangement with HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers. Printed in the U.S.A.
ISBN 978-1-338-88637-5
SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
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Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012
For my grandchildren —M.E.
For my architect mother, Pillo, whose courage opened the ceiling above her dreams —R.L.
Margarita ngle is a Cuban-American poet and novelist whose work has been published in many countries. Her award-winning books include Silver People: Voices from the Panama Canal; The Lightning Dreamer: Cuba’s Greatest Abolitionist; The Wild Book; and The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom, a Newbery Honor Book. She is a several-time winner of both the Américas Award and the Pura Belpré medal. Margarita Engle lives in Northern California. Rafael López grew up in Mexico City, where he was immersed in the rich cultural heritage and color of street life. His vibrant picture books include Tito Puente, Mambo King and My Name Is Celia, both written by Monica Brown, and Book Fiesta! by Pat Mora. He has received the Pura Belpré and Américas awards multiple times. An acclaimed muralist, he has designed community-based mural projects nationwide. He divides his time between San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and San Diego, California.
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