Drum Dream Girl: How One

Girl's Courage Changed Music

Margarita Engle
Margarita Engle
• Born September 2, 1951 (age 68)
• Pasadena, California, United States
• Cuban American poet and author of many
award-winning books for children, young
adults and adults
• Engle's father was born in Los Angeles,
California
• Her mother in Trinidad, Cuba.
• Born and raised in California,
• She spent many summers with her
extended family in Cuba
• DRUM DREAM GIRL in
2016 won the Charlotte Zolotow
Award
DRUM DREAM GIRL
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 bongs̤.
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.
 An all-female orchestra,
founded Havana in the
early 1930s by Castro
Anacaona Zaldarriaga and her 10
sisters
On an island of music
in a city of drumbeats
the drum dream girl
dreamed

of pounding tall conga drums

tapping small bongó drums
and boom boom booming
with long, loud sticks
on big, round, silvery
moon-bright timbales.

But everyone
on the island of music
in the city of drumbeats
believed that only boys
should play drums

so the drum dream girl

had to keep dreaming
quiet
secret
drumbeat
dreams.
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.

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.

At carnivals, she listened

to the rattling beat
of towering
dancers
on stilts
and the dragon clang
of costumed drummers
wearing huge masks.

At home, her fingertips

rolled out their own
dreamy drum rhythm
on tables and chairs…

and even though everyone

kept reminding her that girls
on the island of music
have never played drums

the brave drum dream girl

dared to play
tall conga drums
small bongó drums
and big, round, silvery
moon-bright timbales.
Her hands seemed to fly
as they rippled
rapped
and pounded
all the rhythms
of her drum dreams.

Her big sisters were so excited

that they invited her to join
their new all-girl dance band

but their father said only boys

should play drums.

So the drum dream girl

had to keep dreaming
and drumming
alone

until finally
her father offered
to find a music teacher
who could decide if her drums
deserved
to be heard.
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 bongó drums
outdoors at a starlit café
that looked like a garden
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.
• What do the descriptions in lines 28-37 suggest about the drum dream girl?
• A. The girl hears music in common sounds.
• B. The girl does not feel comfortable at home.
• C. The girl does not have a strong imagination.
• D. The girl prefers the sounds of nature to actual music.
• 2. What effect do the words “rippled,” “rapped,” and “pounded” have in lines 60-65?
• A. They show how frustrated the girl is that she is not allowed to play the drums.
• B. They suggest that the girl needs to learn more about how to play the drums.
• C. They highlight the powerful dreams the girl has about playing the drums.
• D. They emphasize the girl’s enthusiasm for playing the drums.
• 3. How do lines 95-105 contribute to the meaning of the poem?
• A. They show how the community kept the girl from achieving her dream.
• B. They show that the girl’s performance changed what people believed.
• C. They emphasize how happy the girl was to be allowed to play.
• D. They convey that some people have more talent than others.
• 4. Which statement best summarizes the poem?
• A. A girl dreams of learning to play drums from a talented teacher.
• B. A girl fights her community and begs them to allow girls to play the drums.
• C. A girl dreams of creating an island that allows music to be played and heard by
• everyone.
• D. A girl reaches her dreams of playing the drums in a society that only allows boys
• to play the drums.