Margarita Engle

This is a story of a young girl named Teresa, who got to play the piano for President Lincoln. Her parents introduced her to music, her father called Teresa’s hands “ahhpy hands”. Playing the piano did not come easily to Teresa because of her dyslexia. Although it was challenging, playing music gave her joy. By six and seven she was writing her own music and playing in beautiful capels. When she turned eight, a war turned her life upside down. Teresa and her parents had to immigrate on a ship to the United States. This made Teresa feel lost and homesick. She didn’t know how she was going to be able to share and play music ever again. This was during the Civil War, so there was fighting in the US too. Teresa comes to the realization that music can be people together and break down barriers. Because of this she practiced playing all different kinds of music and she became a big name in cities around her. She began traveling to play music and got to play for Abraham Lincoln. In Washington DC, there was a lot of pain from the people present from the war. All Teresa wanted to do was heal these people with her music. When she played for Lincoln, the music was poorly tuned but she still got to play his favorite song despite the challenging piano. From then on she always felt the courage to play music to give courage, despite the challenges she faces with her dyslexia.

I think this is a great book to have in a primary classroom as an option to read. I don't think a lot of formal discussion needs to be had about this story but I love that it is a true story and I think students might find it interesting.… (mere)

This book would be good for primary students. This book is "Drum Dream Girl" written by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Rafael Lopez, and published in 2015. This book is about a girl who always dreamt of playing the drums, but she is not allowed to because she is a girl. This book goes through her journey of defying the gender norms and she gets her dream in the end. This book would be good to teach people that they can do anything they set their mind to, no matter what society says you can or cannot do if you are able to.… (mere)