"To be a drum"

There are three characters in this book- Daddy Wes, Mat, and Martha.  Daddy Wes tells them a story of when people's hearts beat for the first time on the continent of Africa.  He explains how this was how the drum was born.  The tone of the story changes as Daddy Wes talks about slavery and how men took the drums away, as well as their own languages.  He explains how the people became drums and made their feet, mouths, speech, hands, courage, minds, communities, art, stories, history, and dreams drums.  He asks Martha and Wes to listen to the earth's heartbeat.  They both hear it.  I would do a read-aloud with this book and ask the students to predict what the story was about based on the cover.