Pokko and the Drum

From E.B. White Read Aloud honour artist Matthew Forsythe comes a picture book about a magical drum, an emerald forest, and the little frog who dares to make her own music.

Reviews

The frog family lives a quiet, out-of-the-way existence in a peaceful forest—peaceful, that is, until they
present their daughter, Pokko, with a drum. It’s a big mistake, they realize—even bigger than their
previous gifts of a slingshot and llama. “We don’t like drawing attention to ourselves,” her father says, and
Pokko agrees to take her drum-banging out into the woods, giving her patient parents some peace. As she walks about, drumming, different forest critters join her, their own instruments in tow, and form aboisterous musical parade. In one dicey moment, a wolf joins the throng. “No more eating band members or you’re out of the band,” Pokko admonishes the apologetic predator. The joyful cacophony resumes, eventually convincing even her quiet parents that perhaps the drum wasn’t such a mistake after all. Forsythe’s coy, playful writing is a wonder on its own, but the lush watercolor, gouache, and coloredpencil illustrations beautifully elevate the tale, creating a warm and wonderful world that any woodland creature (or small child) would long to inhabit. There is something inspirational about Pokko’s determined drumming and steadfast leadership, subtly providing a delightful lesson on the importance of—quite literally—marching to the beat of your own drum. Sometimes making noise is the only way to be heard.