Strum & Drum: A Merry Little Quest
by Jashar Awan; illus. by the author
Preschool, Primary    Tundra    56 pp.    g
10/22    978-0-7352-7239-2    $18.99
e-book ed.  978-0-7352-7240-8    $10.99

Guitarist Strum and drummer Drum “wanted to march all the way to the Great Star in the north!” Off they go, in a mysterious forest with lanterns that flicker off and on, a waterless waterfall, and glass bubbles that don’t pop. Awan’s unique stylized illustrations are effectively varied, ­heightening the little drama. A soldier prince warns them about a “beast with green eyes,” but the two bravely march on. And then the beast strikes: “Strum and Drum went tumbling through the air…away from all they had known.” The illustrations, now in black and white and rendered realistically, offer a different, holiday-centered perspective on the situation. And by the end, Strum and Drum reach the Great Star, where they make music from on high.

From the November/December 2022 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.