Bookverdict.com

Gr 1–4—Engle's spare, rhythmic text gets at the heart of the struggle to achieve a dream in this picture-book biography about a Chinese African Cuban girl who aspired to play drums even when society's double standards stood as a barrier. Growing up in tempestuous 1930s Havana, during a time when universities were often shut down because of their opposition to the dictatorial President Machado, Millo Castro Zaldarriaga dared to dream of playing percussion instruments—timbales, congas, bongós—but her father was adamant that "only boys should play drums." But still she persisted in her hopes and eve...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

A young girl dreams of becoming a drummer. Though she lives “on an island of music / in a city of drumbeats,” hers is an impossible dream: only boys play drums. An appended note reveals that the story is based on Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, a “Chinese-African-Cuban girl who broke Cuba’s traditional taboo against female drummers” and in the 1930s played with her sisters in an all-female band, Anacaona. Engle’s poetic text takes its cues from Zalda...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

A young girl "on an island of music" dreams of becoming a drummer, but only boys play drums. The story is based on Millo Castro Zaldarriaga,...Log In or Sign Up to Read More