David Gets His Drum [Hardcover]

Panama Francis (Author), Robert Reiser (Author), Eric Velasquez (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up

In this story based on the life of drummer David "Panama" Francis, a little boy named David dreams of getting his own drum and marching in the Sunday parade.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Jazz drummer Francis, who died last year, collaborated with Reiser (coauthor of Carry It On) for this story about how the musician acquired his first drum. As a child in Miami, David would use spoons and pieces of furniture to play makeshift drums. Each Sunday, he watched in awe as a drummer named Brulla Roberts led the local band down the streets. David senses that he, too, is a drummer: "He felt it with the itch in his fingers and the rhythm in his wrists." But when his parents give the six-year-old a drum and he plays it as he marches behind Roberts, he accidentally tears the top of it. The story's rhythm falters as the text laboriously describes the lad's unsuccessful attempts to repair the instrument. Yet the tale ends on a satisfying note: Roberts visits David's home, bringing the youngster a thrilling gift his own first drum. When David insists that it must be magical, Roberts says with prescience, "Drummer man's magic doesn't come from the drum. The magic comes from the drummer man." If there is a touch of magic in this volume, it can be found in Velasquez's (The Piano Man) remarkably realistic oil paintings, which effectively convey the story's era and Southern setting. A few of the portraits may be stilted, but David's warmth shines through. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2-Based on an incident in the childhood of a noted African-American jazz musician, this fictional memoir traces Francis's boyhood love of music and desire to play the drums. Fascinated by drummer "Brulla" Roberts, who leads a band down the streets of old Miami every Sunday, the six-year-old dreams of producing the same sound, and his parents buy him a toy drum. He rushes out to march with the band, but, on his first foray, the top of the instrument tears. Sick with disappointment, David tries various methods throughout the day to restore it, to no avail. The next morning, he wakes to find Roberts in the kitchen. The musician gives his own first drum to David, stating, "Drummer man's magic doesn't come from the drum. The magic comes from the drummer man.- You are a drummer man." The realistic oil paintings are framed in red and offer varying perspectives and a sense of historical place that invite readers into the story and lend an immediacy, yet timelessness, to the text. Giving a sense of growing up in a time when Miami was a small place, the authors show a young boy's fascination with drumming that rings true. This rewarding slice of life will inspire children to pursue their own dreams and talents.
Marge Loch-Wouters, Menasha's Public Library, WI
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Corporation (September 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761450882
• ISBN-13: 978-0761450887
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 8.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,174,908 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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