A little boy drums up quite a procession.

“This book is the song of my middle-school heart.”—Michelle Schusterman, author of the I Heart Band! series Sam knows she wants to be a drummer. But she doesn’t know how to afford a drum kit, or why budget cuts end her school’s music program, or why her parents argue so much, or even how to explain her dream to other people. But drums sound all the time in Sam’s head, and she’d do just about anything to play them out loud—even lie to her family if she has to. Will the cost of chasing her dream be too high? An exciting new voice in contemporary middle grade, Mike Grosso creates a determined heroine readers will identify with and cheer for.

The Drum Book tells the story of the rock drum kit, from the moment Ringo Starr began to thrash his Ludwigs to the diverse styles of today's players. This expanded and updated edition celebrates in loving detail the music and the drummers that inspired change and invention, and in doing so, changed the sound of music forever.

Daddy Wes tells how Africans were brought to America as slaves, but promises his children that as long as they can hear the rhythm of the earth, they will be free.

Follow along as Daniel finds the musicality in everyday objects he discovers right at home.

Read Along or Enhanced eBook: In this story from India, a poor boy's dream of having a drum takes him on an unlikely journey of discovery. He meets several people who guide him along the way. In time, he learns to make his own "magic" in this world.

"Kick It, the first social history of the drum kit, looks closely at key innovators in the development of the instrument: inventors and manufacturers like the Ludwig and Zildjian dynasties, jazz icons like Gene Krupa and Max Roach, rock stars from Ringo Starr to Keith Moon, and popular artists who haven't always got their dues as drummers, such as Karen Carpenter and J Dilla. Addressing a seeming contradiction--the centrality of the drum kit on the one hand, and the general disparagement of drummers on the other--author Matt Brennan makes the case for the drum kit's role as one of the most transformative musical inventions of the modern era. Tackling the history of race relations, global migration, and the changing tension between high and low culture, Kick It shows how the drum kit and drummers helped change modern music--and society--from the bottom up"--Back cover