Our young readers need to see themselves within the pages of a book and experience other cultures, languages, traditions and religions within the pages of a book.

Our mission: The MCCBD team’s mission to spread the word and raise awareness about the importance of diversity in children’s literature. Want to learn more about the Multicultural Children’s Book Day organization?

Two buttons (you can also use jingle bells).

Paint (we used red and gold glitter paint).

It was fun! We got the idea from Pinterest. Since the Chinese New Year is coming up, we decided to do a Chinese drum craft activity using paper plates. Make a Drum (or another musical instrument)!

Talk about different things that people today think is only for boys or only for girls.

Talk about the idea that only boys should play drums.

There are lots of different extension activities you can do with kids after reading this book. It’s amazing how far we’ve come from the 1930s when it was taboo for women and girls to have the freedom to do the things their hearts desired. It was interesting to hear my daughter say, “Look Mommy, I can play the drums!” as she ran off and got her drum set right after I finished reading the book. They really liked all the bold colors and illustrations and I loved the overall message which tells children to follow their dreams. It was refreshing to revisit this book with the kids.

It was during that performance that everyone decided that indeed both girls and boys should be free to drum and dream. Finally, Millo is ready to play the drums in a cafe on the street to show that girls can play drums too. Millo’s father understood how much his daughter loves playing the drums, so one day he finds her a teacher who helps to perfect her drumming skills. She hoped her dream would some day come true, but until that day came, she kept on dreaming and practicing in secret on her own. Millo dreamed of pounding tall congas and tapping small bongós. She thought both boys and girls should be free to play the drums, but everyone else disagreed including her father. No one dared to question that rule – that is until little Millo came along. Back in those days, there was an unwritten rule that stated girls cannot be drummers. This book is based on the true story of a young girl named Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, a Chinese-African-Cuban who broke down barriers for female drummers in Cuba in the 1930s. Although I previously read this book with the kids before, I was delighted to receive a copy to add to our home library! The book I was sent to review is Drum Dream Girl written by Margarita Engle and beautifully illustrated by Rafael Lopez. I am so excited to be chosen as a Multicultural Children’s Book Day (MCCBD) reviewer this year!

Drum Dream Girl by Margarita Engle