  | Fastest drummer : clap your hands together for Viola Smith! Author: Robbins, Dean | |
| Price: $22.58 | ||
Summary:
Viola took to the road with her family orchestra, learned from the greats, formed her own band in the face of discrimination and ridicule, mastered twelve- and seventeen-piece drum kits, and played so fast she left no room for doubt: women could not only keep the beat-they could beat the odds.
| Illustrator: | Chapman, Susanna |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (+) (02/01/24)
School Library Journal (02/01/24)
Booklist (01/01/24)
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (00/01/24)
The Hornbook (+) (00/01/24)
Full Text Reviews:
School Library Journal - 02/01/2024 Gr 1–3—With endpapers of all the sticks and brushes one can use with a drum, this book opens right up to a promise that something fun and loud is about to happen. Then the title page appears where there are musical instruments and girls with curls. We see brushstrokes swirl, notes twirl, and sounds seem to rise from the paper. The book has not started, officially, but readers will be all in for the story of the Smith Sisters Orchestra: five strong, but they're considering adding a drummer—the sixth sister, Viola. She tries the snare, the tom-tom, the ride cymbal, and the hi-hats. She takes to the drums ferociously and the sisters entertain, adding two more siblings until they are eight sisters, traveling and performing across the Midwest in the 1920s. As the other sisters grow up and lose interest, Smith continues, always learning more, getting faster, playing through World War II, uplifting other female performers, and still drumming as a 100-year-old. As a biography, this captures the verve and brio of Smith's love for her art, delivering the facts with a rat-a-tat pace that parallels the life Robbins is covering. The pages are great fun; Chapman's expressive linework gives Smith's face an elasticity that always lets readers know what she's up to. It's practically a primer on drums and their parts. But our heroinr starts loud and ends loud. Every page is frenetic and there's no arc. Children will love the tumble through these pages, and then they'll be on to the next thing. VERDICT It's a gutsy biography that shouts to be loved, but it may be a very special one-time performance.—Ginnie Abbott - Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
