 Julie Hoffman | Welcome to the third installment of our October Weekend Picks by Julie Hoffman; this week she has another great YA read in mind for us: a book that brings messiness and embarrassment, but also beauty and hope: The Beat I Drum by Dustin Bowling. Julie Hoffman is an educator with Springfield Public Schools and an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois Springfield. Her research interests include urban education, empathy, social and emotional learning, young adult and children’s literature. She believes that young adult literature and poetry can be a message of perseverance and hope and believes that we thrive when we invest in ourselves and others. |
The Beat I Drum by Dusti Bowling
 | “I got out of the car and slammed the door without either of us saying another word. I ran up the steps to my apartment, turning slightly at the last second to see him leaving the parking lot. Positive: I hurt him just as much as I'd hoped. Negative: I hurt him just as much as I'd hoped.” When Connor starts high school he is bracing himself for the worst. It's a new school and a new town where the other students don't know him . . . or about his Tourette Syndrome. They will know soon enough because his tics include barking and spitting—not something easy to hide. Connor is prepared to deal with staring, bullying, meanness, and questions from his new high school classmates. |
Fortunately, he meets Amanda, who also has Tourette’s. Her tics aren’t as obvious, but she is able to empathize with Connor. Amanda is gracious and kind to Connor, and her friend group quickly includes him.
| These new friends help Connor build a sense of belonging, which helps as he navigates missing his friends from back home, his parents divorce, and a bully who keeps getting more bold. Another helper is his new music teacher, who taps into Connor’s affinity for music, especially drums. This book is a companion book to Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus, in which Aven, Connor’s friend, is the main character. While the characters overlap, the books can be read in isolation. As a matter of fact, I read The Beat I Drum first. Since I had not been introduced to them in the other books first, it took me a few chapters to connect with the characters . Once I connected, though, I felt deeply connected and felt all the feelings. I laughed. I cried. I reread the book to feel all of the feelings again. |  Dusti Bowling |
Dusti Bowling brings us through the stress of being a teenager, feeling estranged from a parent, making mistakes, seeking forgiveness, and the possibility of restoration. If you want a book that brings the mess, embarrassment, and pain of being human that is counterbalanced by the beauty, hope, and joy of being human, this is the one.
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