Drum, Chavi, Drum! / !Toca, Chavi, Toca!

Who says girls can’t play drums? The beat of Chavi’s congas livens up her entire neighborhood. When she’s not picked to drum in Miami’s Calle Ocho festival, she decides to do something about it!

Tun-TUN-dun-TUN! Even though nobody in her Cuban-American neighborhood thinks girls should play the drums, Chavi knows she was born to drum. And the whole world is her instrument: she drums on paint cans, sofa arms, even on her mother’s cheeks. Her favorites, however, are the tumbadoras, the conga drums that liven the Caribbean music she and her neighbors love. So, when she’s not picked to play on the school float for the festival on Miami’s Calle Ocho, she decides to do something about it!

Mayra Lazara Dole’s plucky little musician will drum her way into the hearts of young readers, while Tonel’s wonderfully quirky illustrations capture Calle Ocho, its inhabitants, and celebrations’ heart-thumping energy.