In onomatopoeic, rhyming text, Bolling encourages readers to dance in styles including folk dance, classical ballet, breakdancing, and line dancing. Music takes center stage and bullies get properly pun-ished in this hearty and wholesome howl.ĭancing is one of the most universal elements of cultures the world over. Haley slips those lines, along with references to “Jowlene” and “I will pawlways love you,” into painted scenes of an all-dog-or-Dolly cast set against swirls of music and simply drawn backdrops. After a “ruff day” in which being scorned by big dogs for not being a “true muttropolitan” leaves him feeling “lower than a stick on the ground,” he eats some flowers, strums some tunes, forms a band with a trio of little dogs, and, after sending the big pooches packing, trots out a “pawsome” performance at the “Battle of the Bow-Wows.” And from there it’s on to the Grand Ole Opry to hear his big-haired favorite singer warble out lines from her song “Makin’ Fun Ain’t Funny,” about celebrating differences rather than mocking them. Inspired by musical dreams, Billy heads for Nashville. Promising at the outset that this is just the first of a series of adventures starring her beloved “god-dog,” Parton goes on to hit all the conventional thematic notes. In this picture book from singer Parton and co-author Perl, a small French bulldog goes to Nashville, joins a band, fends off bullies, and meets one of the queens of country music. Though it’s not explicit in the text, her mixed Chinese-African-Cuban descent is hinted at in the motifs López includes.Ī beautiful account of a young girl’s bravery and her important contribution toward gender equality in the creative arts. López’s illustrations are every bit as poetic as the narrative, a color-saturated dreamscape that Millo dances within, pounding and tapping her drums. The rhythmic text tells Millo’s story and its significance in minimal words, with a lyricism that is sure to engage both young children and older readers. Eventually, her father softens, connecting her with a music teacher who determines that her talent is strong enough to override the social stigma. Her sisters invite her to join their all-girl band, but their father refuses to allow Millo to play the drums.

Millo longs to play the drums, but in 1930s Cuba, drumming is taboo for girls, “so the drum dream girl / had to keep dreaming / quiet / secret / drumbeat / dreams.” This doesn’t stop Millo she dares to let her talent soar, playing every type of drum that she can find. Before fame, however, as Engle’s account attests, there is struggle. Millo became a world-famous musician at quite a young age.

Pura Belpré winner and Newbery honoree Engle, known for writing free-verse historical fiction, introduces readers to Millo Castro Zaldarriaga with this illustrated poem, inspired by her subject’s childhood.

Drum Dream Girl by Margarita Engle