A search for one\'s place in the world provides the storyline: The narrator, a drum, feels like an outcast because he alone--unlike his family and friends--cannot play a melody.
The bass drum is the heartbeat; the hi hat is the dynamic metronome; the snare drum is the drum kit\'s singer..
In backmatter, Loubriel, a lifelong drummer, explains how the drum kit lays a song\'s foundation.
Coelho\'s city of music bursts with exuberance.
Loubriel\'s story of bravery and identity, infused with Latin rhythms and joy, provides a fine vehicle for Coelho\'s vibrant technique and palette.
But he must still prove it to himself, and that takes all his courage.
But one day a trio of saxophones ask him to join their band, and what they tell him gives him an epiphany So that\'s what a drum does! I now understand.
I don\'t carry a tune
I carry a band.
BOOM-CLACK, RAT-A-TAT.
My head is a snare and I wear a hi-hat.
My stomach\'s a bass drum, my arms are drumsticks, and my only song is CLICK-CLACK, CLACK-CLICK.
My father is Cello, and oh, what a fellow.
The tone of his laugh is low, smooth, and mellow.
But me? My name\'s Drum. search for identity in a city of musical instruments.
He adores his violin brother, cello father, and piano mother but feels he has nothing to offer to their music.
The narrator, a drum, wanders the streets of Coelho\'s vividly realized city of musical instruments--where even the birds sprout miniature trumpets from their mouths--feeling like an outcast because he alone, among all his family and neighbors, can\'t play a melody.
Like all kids growing up, he must find out where he fits.
A search for one\'s place in the world provides the storyline: The narrator, a drum, feels like an outcast because he alone--unlike his family and friends--cannot play a melody
