About this item
Clap your hands for Viola Smith - the pioneering female drummer at the heart of this bright and rhythmic biography, who rat-tat-tat-bang-crash-clink-boomed for nearly a century.. Five girls played together in the Smith Sisters Orchestra: Irene on trombone, Erma on vibraphone, Edwina on trumpet, Mildred on violin, and Lila on saxophone. But what of the littlest sister? When Viola's time came, almost every instrument was taken . . . except one. When she first sat behind a drum kit, she lost the beat, made a terrible racket, and had more fun than she'd ever had before. Viola took to the road with her family, 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.
About the Author
Dean Robbins writes nonfiction children's picture books about his heroes, including "Two Friends: Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass" (Scholastic) ; "Miss Paul and the President: The Creative Campaign for Women's Right to Vote" (Knopf) ; "Margaret and the Moon: How Margaret Hamilton Saved the First Lunar Landing" (Knopf) ; "The Astronaut Who Painted the Moon: The True Story of Alan Bean" (Scholastic) ; "Thank You, Dr. Salk!: The Scientist Who Beat Polio and Healed the World" (Farrar Straus Giroux) , "The Fastest Girl on Earth!: Meet Kitty O'Neil, Daredevil Driver!" (Knopf) ; "Mambo Mucho Mambo!: The Dance That Crossed Color Lines" (Candlewick) ; and "You Are a Star, Ruth Bader Ginsburg!" (Scholastic) . His award-winning books have been featured on Public Radio International and praised in The New York Times, USA Today, Smithsonian, and other publications, along with receiving starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews. They've also been chosen for best-of-the-year honors by Smithsonian, Space.com, the Cooperative Children's Book Center, and the Children's Book Council, among others. "Two Friends" was adapted as a short film by Weston Wood Studios. As a journalist, Robbins has contributed to USA Today, The New York Daily News, Space.com, and dozens of other media outlets. He draws on his journalism experience to interview the subjects of his children's books, including Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean and NASA's pioneering computer scientist Margaret Hamilton. Learn more at deanrobbins.net.
