Drum City

by Thea Guidone, Vanessa Brantley-Newton (Illustrator)

Overview

A summer parade, a drummer parade, a magical bucket-and-bowl serenade!
 
What begins with one boy’s beat on a kettle soon spreads to pots and pans and cartons and cans all across the neighborhood. When everyone joins in, together they create the catchy, driving tempo of a bright, hot DRUM CITY!
 
Get ready to make some noise with this upbeat, lyrical, and diverse picture book!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780385387309
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	02/26/2014
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	26 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Thea Guidone lives in a red house on a hill in Connecticut. She loves John and Suzanna, old books, cottage gardens, Friday-night pizza, and writing by the fire. This is her first children’s book.
 
Vanessa Newton trained at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the School of Visual Arts, both in New York City. Before turning her sights to children’s books, Vanessa worked as a medical phlebotomist. Her other works include the Ruby and the Booker Boys series and Let Freedom Sing, which she also authored. Vanessa lives in East Orange, New Jersey, with her family.

Read an Excerpt

Drum.
Drum.
Boy in the yard drumming so hard, calling all kids to come drum in the yard.
Drum on some kettles and cans!
Here they come!
They run to the beat of the drum.
Drum.
Bowls and buckets, cartons and cans, barrels and bins, and pots and pans, mops on pails, and rusty old rails—a frolicking, rollicking ruckus of rumbling drums.
Drum.
Jump to the sound, dance all around, loud on the tubs and the tins that they found.
“March!” calls the boy in the yard full of drums, hundreds and hundreds of drums.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Review, Booklist, June, 2010:
“A great choice for an active storytime."

Review, Kids lit. Menesha Library.org, June 24, 2010:
"Purely infectious!"

Review, Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2010:
"This one begs to be read aloud in a music or city-sounds storytime. But be forewarned—anything even remotely drum-like will not be safe for the rest of the day."

Editorial Reviews

Review, Booklist, June, 2010:
“A great choice for an active storytime."

Review, Kids lit. Menesha Library.org, June 24, 2010:
"Purely infectious!"

Review, Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2010:
"This one begs to be read aloud in a music or city-sounds storytime. But be forewarned—anything even remotely drum-like will not be safe for the rest of the day."

From the Publisher

A driving beat powers this simple story of a boy who, merrily drumming with kitchen utensils, summons all the neighborhood kids to join him. The kids come en masse with buckets, barrels, pots, pans and anything that can make noise. The horde of drumming children marches down the city streets, disrupting the "humdrum of the city" with the rhythmic pounding of their makeshift drums. The adults in the city hear the rumbling and stop, waiting. When the kids march through the streets to their groovin' beats, everyone starts jamming with them. Suddenly, "[t]the city becomes a city of drums, / banging and clanging as everyone comes. / A summer parade, a drummer parade, / a magical bucket-and-bowl serenade / in the heart / of a city of / drums." Newton's illustrations depict a multiethnic, multigenerational cast of characters in a vibrant urban setting. This one begs to be read aloud in a music or city-sounds storytime. But be forewarned-anything even remotely drum-like will not be safe for the rest of the day. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews