Strum and Drum
A Merry Little Quest
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
A pair of Christmas tree ornaments set out on the merry adventure of a lifetime in this imaginative picture book about the inner lives of holiday decorations.
All is quiet in the forest as the Great Star rises in the distance, and two little musicians, Strum and Drum, wake up from a deep slumber and set out to make the most joyous music they can! But as Strum strums his guitar and Drum drums her drum on their way to the North, some mysterious obstacles fill their paths . . . flickering lanterns, bubbles of glass, a silver waterfall, a tiny house, dangerous animals . . . and a wooden man with a toothy grin warns them of a beast with green eyes lying in wait. For this is no ordinary forest — it's a Christmas tree, on Christmas Eve, and Strum, Drum and all their new friends are ornaments! But when the green-eyed beast strikes and sends them tumbling out of the “forest,” Strum and Drum’s quest to reach the Great Star seems doomed . . . until a little boy setting out milk and cookies for Santa spots them.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
What do Christmas tree ornaments get up to when no one's looking? In mixed-media artwork resembling cut-paper collage, Awan imagines just that, portraying a dreamy, candy-colored world in which adventure and danger lurk. One silent night, Strum and Drum wake from a deep sleep and, on guitar and drum, begin jamming as they travel "all the way to the Great Star in the north!" Their walk leads them past flickering lanterns, a silver waterfall that doesn't get them wet, and glass bubbles that don't pop. Not even a dire warning from a menacing Nutcracker can veer them off the jolly course as their band, portrayed with various skin tones, begins to grow. But when the warned-of beast makes a quick strike, Strum and Drum are flung away from the woods and into a new world—depicted in naturalistic black-and-white art—that will have readers quickly flipping back to the book's beginning to launch the journey with fresh eyes. Brief text holds readers in suspense until the book delivers its revelatory twist in this festive nested story reminiscent of Pokko and the Drum. Ages 3–7.
