The Little Drummer Boy [Keats]
by Katherine K. Davis
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Description
An illustrated version of the Christmas carol about the procession to Bethlehem and the offer of a poor boy to play his drum for the Christ Child.Tags
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Member Reviews
The classic Christmas song, The Little Drummer Boy, also known as The Carol of the Drum, is presented in picture book form in this holiday title from 1968, with the words of the song paired with colorful artwork from Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator Ezra Jack Keats. As the eponymous little drummer follows a procession heading to see the infant Jesus, he wonders what a poor child such as him could offer a kingly figure, eventually settling on the only thing he has: his drumming...
Although long aware of Keats' The Little Drummer Boy, I have never felt especially motivate to pick it up at the holidays. Something about its cover, with a figure that for all the world has always looked like a little elf to me, just doesn't make me think of show more Christmas. Deciding this year that as someone with an interest in picture books featuring Christmas carols and songs, I really had to track it down, I finally requested it from my library. I'm glad I did so, as—lo and behold—covers can be deceiving. Reading this while listening to the Harry Simeone Chorale recording, I found it a very sweet, very moving Christmas read after all. The artwork had a deep, vivid color palette and stylized figures that felt both mysterious and beautiful, leaving me with an impression of undercurrents of feeling and epiphany, as the little boy makes his way to Jesus, offering what he can, and finding his reward in the end. Recommended to picture book readers looking for Christmas song presentations, as well as to fans of Ezra Jack Keats' work. show less
Although long aware of Keats' The Little Drummer Boy, I have never felt especially motivate to pick it up at the holidays. Something about its cover, with a figure that for all the world has always looked like a little elf to me, just doesn't make me think of show more Christmas. Deciding this year that as someone with an interest in picture books featuring Christmas carols and songs, I really had to track it down, I finally requested it from my library. I'm glad I did so, as—lo and behold—covers can be deceiving. Reading this while listening to the Harry Simeone Chorale recording, I found it a very sweet, very moving Christmas read after all. The artwork had a deep, vivid color palette and stylized figures that felt both mysterious and beautiful, leaving me with an impression of undercurrents of feeling and epiphany, as the little boy makes his way to Jesus, offering what he can, and finding his reward in the end. Recommended to picture book readers looking for Christmas song presentations, as well as to fans of Ezra Jack Keats' work. show less
WARNING: this review contains thinly-disguised cuss words (just be happy I'm even telling you)
Introduction
So it's Christmas time again, when this book and others like it make their annual appearance at my parents' house, for the benefit of my two nephews (6 and 5 yrs old). I gave it five stars because I like the illustrations. The rest of it is a hot philosophical mess that I don't appreciate at all.
If you grew up at any point during the last forty years in a country that uses the Latin alphabet, you probably couldn't help but see the claymation television special about this kid. The story, for those of you living under rocks, is that during the whole birth of Christ, as described multiple times in the Bible... with the three wise men, show more the star of Bethlehem, the manger and all the rest... there was this poor little boy whose only material possession was a drum. Under somewhat hazy circumstances, he becomes part of the manger scene and plays his drum for to the pleasure of the baby Jesus. The standard lesson drawn from all this is that the drummer boy had no material wealth to offer, but he gave a gift of himself- of his time and skills- and that was more desirable to the Christ child than the gold, frankincence, and myrrh of the wisemen. (Spot gold closed at $1385.80 today, btw. In your face, Ben Bernanke.) This story presents a worthwhile lesson, sweetly told, in what may possibly be the most positive childrens' story I have ever heard. Under any other circumstances, I would be an outspoken supporter of the little drummer boy (TLDB), but for two concerns:
Get the f**k out of my hagiography
So here's the thing: this story is like 95% right out of the pages of the Bible, with one important exception: there is no little drummer boy in the Bible. Go ahead and look, if you must, but I'm pretty sure most people reading this won't have to. You know I'm right.
According to Wikipedia (I know, I know...) the story of the Little Drummer Boy originated in the 12th century. For most books, I would have no problem with this sort of fan literature. It happens all the time: somebody reads a book or sees a television show, and thinks to themself "Hey, that was good! I'd like to develop these characters and explore the universe this author created a little bit more." The results are not always great, but I'm okay with that. In the case of ancient religious manuscripts, I'm not okay with it, for the following reasons:
The Solution
What to do? The LDB has been around for a while now, and has itself become something of a tradition. And let's not forget: he does promote a positive message. What is the proper response to this mess?
The answer is that TLDB needs a dose of his own medicine. Somebody needs to do to him what he did to Jesus: namely to intrude into his story, and hijack it to promote a positive message. I propose that some talented author of childrens' books write a story where TLDB goes into the manger, sees baby Jesus laying there, sees the gifts from the three kings, and starts to play his drum... then Chad and Superman show up, and explain to him about what the phrase "unintended consequences" means, and why it's wrong to trespass on private propery, and why you should respect other peoples' beliefs, even if you don't share them. I think that would make for a fine claymation television special. show less
Introduction
So it's Christmas time again, when this book and others like it make their annual appearance at my parents' house, for the benefit of my two nephews (6 and 5 yrs old). I gave it five stars because I like the illustrations. The rest of it is a hot philosophical mess that I don't appreciate at all.
If you grew up at any point during the last forty years in a country that uses the Latin alphabet, you probably couldn't help but see the claymation television special about this kid. The story, for those of you living under rocks, is that during the whole birth of Christ, as described multiple times in the Bible... with the three wise men, show more the star of Bethlehem, the manger and all the rest... there was this poor little boy whose only material possession was a drum. Under somewhat hazy circumstances, he becomes part of the manger scene and plays his drum for to the pleasure of the baby Jesus. The standard lesson drawn from all this is that the drummer boy had no material wealth to offer, but he gave a gift of himself- of his time and skills- and that was more desirable to the Christ child than the gold, frankincence, and myrrh of the wisemen. (Spot gold closed at $1385.80 today, btw. In your face, Ben Bernanke.) This story presents a worthwhile lesson, sweetly told, in what may possibly be the most positive childrens' story I have ever heard. Under any other circumstances, I would be an outspoken supporter of the little drummer boy (TLDB), but for two concerns:
Get the f**k out of my hagiography
So here's the thing: this story is like 95% right out of the pages of the Bible, with one important exception: there is no little drummer boy in the Bible. Go ahead and look, if you must, but I'm pretty sure most people reading this won't have to. You know I'm right.
According to Wikipedia (I know, I know...) the story of the Little Drummer Boy originated in the 12th century. For most books, I would have no problem with this sort of fan literature. It happens all the time: somebody reads a book or sees a television show, and thinks to themself "Hey, that was good! I'd like to develop these characters and explore the universe this author created a little bit more." The results are not always great, but I'm okay with that. In the case of ancient religious manuscripts, I'm not okay with it, for the following reasons:
1) F**king with our perceptions of the past: Once in a very long time, a new ancient text may be discovered, as happened with the Dead Sea Scrolls, but that is incredibly rare. For the most part, there is a finite number of documents connecting us to the ancient world, and we ought to revere these, and study them to better understand our past and where we came from. Whether you believe its religious content or not, the Bible is one such document. The world it describes is a world that will never be again. I don't approve of re-writing it with new jazzed-up twists, just to promote some positive social message. It's like if I rewrote [book:Agamemnon|9741696], but I added this surfer dude character, Chad, and he was really cool and taught everybody to be kind to animals. Then, over generations, people kind of forgot that Chad wasn't part of Aschylus's original story, and they incorporated him into their ideas about antiquity. That would be bull$**t, even if the underlying message of being kind to animals is praiseworthy.
2) F**king with ancient traditional belief systems: As I stated in my review of the Bible, I'm not sure how much of it I believe. That doesn't matter. A lot of people turn to the Bible as a source of inspiration, guidence and moral instruction. It has brought hope to many in despair, in part because they either regarded it as (a) the divinely-inspired words of the Creator, or (b) a stable philosophy developed and tested over millenia, representing the collective wisdom of our ancestors. In either case, the credibility of this ancient manuscript is undermined if we become permiscuous tolerating changes to its characters or plot. I mean, how would it be if we re-wrote the New Testiment to include Superman? He stands for truth and justice. Those are good things, right? He could have adventures with Jesus, fighting Satan, and maybe using his superpowers to cure leprosy.
3) It encourages $h**ty writing: The big thing I still don't get about TLDB is why he had to be written into a Bible setting to begin with. As I've already said, TLDB is a sweet story. The kid has nothing but a drum, and comes into this situation where everybody is giving fancy gifts, but he has nothing to give. So he plays the drum, and it's a simple and sincere offerring -probably more meaningful than all the extravagant presents that are changing hands around him. And it's appreciated. That's all you need. That's a perfect story. Why did the pre-existing tale of Jesus in the manger need to be carved up to provide background support? It didn't. And it doesn't. And it should not have been.
The Solution
What to do? The LDB has been around for a while now, and has itself become something of a tradition. And let's not forget: he does promote a positive message. What is the proper response to this mess?
The answer is that TLDB needs a dose of his own medicine. Somebody needs to do to him what he did to Jesus: namely to intrude into his story, and hijack it to promote a positive message. I propose that some talented author of childrens' books write a story where TLDB goes into the manger, sees baby Jesus laying there, sees the gifts from the three kings, and starts to play his drum... then Chad and Superman show up, and explain to him about what the phrase "unintended consequences" means, and why it's wrong to trespass on private propery, and why you should respect other peoples' beliefs, even if you don't share them. I think that would make for a fine claymation television special. show less
Although this is far from my favorite Christmas song, in fact I don't know why people continue to record it except that perhaps they are browbeaten by their drummers to do so, this is a wonderful picture book for the Christmas season. Ezra Jack Keats's collages transcend the material he had to work with.
I wonder who the little drummer boy was, originally? I assumed he was just an apprentice shepherd or camel boy who had a little drum - Keats assumes that he has a full-size drum and implies his principal role in life is to drum. In any case, the artwork is beautiful, as always with Keats. The text is simply the song.
This is a book about a Bible tale of the little drummer boy. The little drummer boy arrives for the birth of Jesus. With no money to give, he gives the gift of music by playing his drum for baby Jesus. This book is stylistically different in it's illustrations compared to other Keats' books. It also has sheet music in the back for the song, "The Little Drummer Boy". I like that Keats worked some of his beliefs into a work of his. In my opinion Christian books are important for the young, and I would personally read this book to my children.
I'm not a huge fan of song books but I've always liked this song since I was a kid. I quite enjoyed the illustrations and hopefully my daughter didn't cringe too much with my stellar singing.
A procession travels to Bethlehem, bringing gifts for the newborn baby Jesus. The little drummer boy comes along, although he is too poor to bring a present fit for a king. Instead, he plays a song on his drum for the Christ Child. Within the little drummer boy's seemingly simple gift lies the true spirit of Christmas.
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- 782.421723 — Arts & recreation Music Vocal Music, Singing Secular forms of vocal music Songs General principles and musical forms Sacred secular songs Music of Christian church year Christmas Day, Christmas
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