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The Little Drummer Boy
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. Ezra Jack Keats' vivid, jewel-toned artwork perfectly illustrates this classic holiday carol. Music for the song appears at the back of the book. "Keats evocatively portrays this story." -Publishers Weekly
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
4 people are currently reading
1150 people want to read
About the author
Ezra Jack Keats
122 books373 followersEzra Jack Keats was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. He won the 1963 Caldecott Medal for illustrating The Snowy Day, which he also wrote. Many of Ezra’s stories are about a group of friends growing up in the city. The neighborhood they live in looks like the streets where Ezra grew up in Brooklyn, New York.
He was born Jacob Ezra Katz, the third child of Polish-Jewish immigrants Benjamin Katz and Augusta Podgainy. The family was very poor. Jack, as he was known, was artistic from an early age, and joyfully made pictures out of whatever scraps of wood, cloth and paper that he could collect. Benjamin Katz, who worked as a waiter, tried to discourage his son, insisting that artists lived terrible, impoverished lives. Nevertheless, he sometimes brought home tubes of paint, claiming, "A starving artist swapped this for a bowl of soup."
With little encouragement at home, Keats sought validation for his skills at school and learned about art at the public library. He received a medal for drawing on graduating from Junior High School 149. Although unimpressive-looking, the medal meant a great deal to him, and he kept it his entire life. Keats attended Thomas Jefferson High School, where he won a national contest run by Scholastic for an oil painting depicting hobos warming themselves around a fire. At his graduation, in January 1935, he was to receive the senior class medal for excellence in art. Two days before the ceremony, Benjamin Katz died in the street of a heart attack. When Keats identified his father's body, he later wrote, "I found myself staring deep into his secret feelings. There in his wallet were worn and tattered newspaper clippings of the notices of the awards I had won. My silent admirer and supplier, he had been torn between his dread of my leading a life of hardship and his real pride in my work."
His father's death curtailed his dream of attending art school. For the remainder of the Great Depression until he was drafted for military service in World War II, Keats took art classes when he could and worked at a number of jobs, most notably as a mural painter under the New Deal program the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and as a comic book illustrator. At Fawcett Publications, he illustrated backgrounds for the Captain Marvel comic strip. He spent his military service (1943-45) designing camouflage patterns for the U.S. Army Air Force. In 1947, he petitioned to legally change his name to Ezra Jack Keats, in reaction to the anti-Semitic prejudice of the time.
Keats spent most of 1949 painting and studying in Paris, realizing a long-deferred dream of working as an artist. After returning to New York, he focused on earning a living as a commercial artist, undoubtedly influenced by his father's anxieties. His illustrations began to appear in Reader's Digest, The New York Times Book Review, Collier's and Playboy, and on the jackets of popular books. His work was displayed in Fifth Avenue store windows, and the Associated American Artists Gallery, in New York City, gave him exhibitions in 1950 and 1954.
In his unpublished autobiography, Keats wrote, "I didn't even ask to get into children's books." In fact, he was asked to do so by Elizabeth Riley of Crowell, which brought out his first children's title, Jubilant for Sure, written by Elisabeth Hubbard Lansing, in 1954. To prepare for the assignment, Keats went to rural Kentucky, where the story takes place, to sketch. Many children's books followed, including the Danny Dunn adventure series, by Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin, and an ethnographic series by Tillie S. Pine and Joseph Levine, beginning with The Indians Knew. All told, Keats illustrated nearly 70 books written by other authors.
In 1983, Keats died at the age of 67 following a heart attack. His last projects included designing the sets for a musical version of his book The Trip (which would later become the stage production Captain Louie), designing
He was born Jacob Ezra Katz, the third child of Polish-Jewish immigrants Benjamin Katz and Augusta Podgainy. The family was very poor. Jack, as he was known, was artistic from an early age, and joyfully made pictures out of whatever scraps of wood, cloth and paper that he could collect. Benjamin Katz, who worked as a waiter, tried to discourage his son, insisting that artists lived terrible, impoverished lives. Nevertheless, he sometimes brought home tubes of paint, claiming, "A starving artist swapped this for a bowl of soup."
With little encouragement at home, Keats sought validation for his skills at school and learned about art at the public library. He received a medal for drawing on graduating from Junior High School 149. Although unimpressive-looking, the medal meant a great deal to him, and he kept it his entire life. Keats attended Thomas Jefferson High School, where he won a national contest run by Scholastic for an oil painting depicting hobos warming themselves around a fire. At his graduation, in January 1935, he was to receive the senior class medal for excellence in art. Two days before the ceremony, Benjamin Katz died in the street of a heart attack. When Keats identified his father's body, he later wrote, "I found myself staring deep into his secret feelings. There in his wallet were worn and tattered newspaper clippings of the notices of the awards I had won. My silent admirer and supplier, he had been torn between his dread of my leading a life of hardship and his real pride in my work."
His father's death curtailed his dream of attending art school. For the remainder of the Great Depression until he was drafted for military service in World War II, Keats took art classes when he could and worked at a number of jobs, most notably as a mural painter under the New Deal program the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and as a comic book illustrator. At Fawcett Publications, he illustrated backgrounds for the Captain Marvel comic strip. He spent his military service (1943-45) designing camouflage patterns for the U.S. Army Air Force. In 1947, he petitioned to legally change his name to Ezra Jack Keats, in reaction to the anti-Semitic prejudice of the time.
Keats spent most of 1949 painting and studying in Paris, realizing a long-deferred dream of working as an artist. After returning to New York, he focused on earning a living as a commercial artist, undoubtedly influenced by his father's anxieties. His illustrations began to appear in Reader's Digest, The New York Times Book Review, Collier's and Playboy, and on the jackets of popular books. His work was displayed in Fifth Avenue store windows, and the Associated American Artists Gallery, in New York City, gave him exhibitions in 1950 and 1954.
In his unpublished autobiography, Keats wrote, "I didn't even ask to get into children's books." In fact, he was asked to do so by Elizabeth Riley of Crowell, which brought out his first children's title, Jubilant for Sure, written by Elisabeth Hubbard Lansing, in 1954. To prepare for the assignment, Keats went to rural Kentucky, where the story takes place, to sketch. Many children's books followed, including the Danny Dunn adventure series, by Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin, and an ethnographic series by Tillie S. Pine and Joseph Levine, beginning with The Indians Knew. All told, Keats illustrated nearly 70 books written by other authors.
In 1983, Keats died at the age of 67 following a heart attack. His last projects included designing the sets for a musical version of his book The Trip (which would later become the stage production Captain Louie), designing
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 108 reviews
December 19, 2019
Ezra Jack Keats never fails to deliver with his unique illustrations, especially with this favourite Christmas carol!
December 1, 2017
Simple book. Pictures to go with the words of the song with the same title. The art is nice. Great for a 2-3 year old.
December 12, 2018
Little Drummer Boy is a children's picture book of the Christmas carol original written by Katherine Kennicott Davis and illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats. It is a book depicting the classical Christmas song in the 1940s.
The text is simplistic and straightforward. It is the lyrics of the Little Drummer Boy original known as Carol of the Drum. Keats' illustrations are drawn extremely well, his classic and unique style of mixed media is conveyed the narrative rather well.
The premise of the book is rather straightforward. The narrative relates to a poor, young boy as he was summoned by the Magi to the Nativity of Christ and without any gifts for the infant, the little drummer boy played his drum for him. It is a wonderful remaindered that it is the sentiment behind the gift is far more important on what was spent on it.
All in all, Little Drummer Boy is a wonderfully Christmas carol brought to written form that reminds that it is thought and sentiment behind the gift that is more important than how much has been spent on it.
The text is simplistic and straightforward. It is the lyrics of the Little Drummer Boy original known as Carol of the Drum. Keats' illustrations are drawn extremely well, his classic and unique style of mixed media is conveyed the narrative rather well.
The premise of the book is rather straightforward. The narrative relates to a poor, young boy as he was summoned by the Magi to the Nativity of Christ and without any gifts for the infant, the little drummer boy played his drum for him. It is a wonderful remaindered that it is the sentiment behind the gift is far more important on what was spent on it.
All in all, Little Drummer Boy is a wonderfully Christmas carol brought to written form that reminds that it is thought and sentiment behind the gift that is more important than how much has been spent on it.
April 17, 2025
A book as fitting for Easter as Christmas.
August 17, 2024
I like the song and the idea. And I like Keats' art in other books. But somehow this didn't work for me. The composition of the pages kept making me look again to make out what was going on, the boy's red hat was very distracting. I think it could have been so much more.
December 13, 2017
Ezra Jack Keats beautiful interpretation of this, my second-least-favorite Christmas song, caused me to reconsider the revulsion I usually feel towards the wee lad and his pa-rum-pa-rum-pums. Indeed, Mr. Keats achieved a remarkable artistic feat by taking something displeasing and making it lovely to my Scrooge-y heart. It's a Christmas miracle!!!!!!
February 19, 2020
I picked this up as part of reading through the author's works. I can't really say that the author wrote this, but his illustrations were beautiful. They tell the story of the well known Christmas carol.
It would be nice to read as a family during Christmas time.
It would be nice to read as a family during Christmas time.
December 20, 2022
Always enjoy a picture book that's lyrics to a Christmas song.
December 31, 2023
One of the books my kids ask for every Christmas. The text is the song of the same name, rum-pum -pums included. The Ezra Jack Keats pictures are what makes it worthwhile, IMO.
December 2, 2019
The words to the song with pictures.
December 24, 2017
Good illustrations. I read the text (minus the drum noises), as naturally as possible, then sing the whole thing at the end. I usually very much dislike the radio versions of the song, but this little book brings a different feeling about it. It may very well redeem the carol for me!
___________
I've actually had to read this a whole bunch of times this Christmas, but I'm only going to mark it once. 😋
___________
I've actually had to read this a whole bunch of times this Christmas, but I'm only going to mark it once. 😋
December 9, 2012
One of my girls favorite reads lately is Over in the Meadow where I sing it instead of reading it as we turn the pages. We found this one to be another from Ezra Jack Keats that has the same response. I have a feeling this will be requested much more before the year is out and possibly year round beyond the Christmas and nativity season.
This was part of our Memoria Press Junior Kindergarten reading list and once again their list is fabulous!
This was part of our Memoria Press Junior Kindergarten reading list and once again their list is fabulous!
September 2, 2015
The text of this picture book comes word-for-word from the popular Christmas tune (complete with the insertion of "pa-rum-pum-pum-pum"), giving it a festive feel, though the illustrations feel dated and as if they were pulled from an illustrated hymnal, not from Ezra Jack Keats.
December 30, 2014
A good telling of the song, with illustrations. I sang the book to my kids and they liked it.
January 6, 2024
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 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.
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 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.
December 25, 2020
The Little Drummer Boy, 1941 lyrics credited to Katherine K. Davis, illustrated for this children's book by Ezra Jack Keats in 1968, has been a family favorite over the years. This past year I dug it out when reading to my 18-month-old granddaughter who immediately fell in love with the rhythm and pictures and sings along to the pa rum pum pum pums. A seven-month-old grandson loves the soothing, staccato-like drum sounds as well. Ezra Jack Keats (1916-19830 was a wonderful storyteller/illustrator, and this book has become a Christmas classic at my house.
My introduction to Ezra Jack Keats was through his 1962 story of a young boy named Peter in a collage-designed The Snowy Day; Keats went on to create more stories about young Peter and his neighborhood. Andrea Davis Pinkney brings Keats' biography to life in the 2016 book A Poem for Peter, which is a review for another day.
My introduction to Ezra Jack Keats was through his 1962 story of a young boy named Peter in a collage-designed The Snowy Day; Keats went on to create more stories about young Peter and his neighborhood. Andrea Davis Pinkney brings Keats' biography to life in the 2016 book A Poem for Peter, which is a review for another day.
April 26, 2020
When I started to read this to Arely, I was reading in prose, but then I soon starting singing the melody as I read and Arely became mesmerized. Probably mostly because I was singing but also because The Little Drummer Boy with melody is indisputably beautiful and the melody brings so much more meaning to it. The pictures in this book are also shaded, faded and mystical in a very beautiful way. When you read this peaceful book to your child, sing it, and it will enhance the experience.
December 27, 2018
My 5-year-olds learned this song at church this year (and LOVED it), so it was really fun to sing/read this together and have them able to join in. Plus, there is something about seeing the words to the song with illustrations to really drive the meaning home. Sometimes you sing a song so much that the words become almost meaningless, so the book made it fresh again for me.
November 25, 2019
This is a beautiful book! It’s the lyrics of the song set to gorgeous illustrations. Try to read it without singing. I bet you can’t! It is amazing in its simplicity. This will become a Christmas tradition in our home. I have to admit I’ve never cared for this song but after reading this book I’ve changed my mind.
December 6, 2017
A Scholastic presentation of the book, in video with the song. The stunning collage art is featured as the song is sung accompanied by a guitar, and of course, a drum.
It is one of my favorite Christmas songs, it is a treat to have it with these images.
It is one of my favorite Christmas songs, it is a treat to have it with these images.
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June 20, 2019The little Drummer boy is a classic. Every year around Christmas time everyone who believes in Christmas is touch by this lovable character. The picture on this version are beautiful and full of details that transport you to the little drummer boy world.
December 9, 2019
I’m not usually a huge fan of songs made into books, especially Christmas songs, but this one is so good. My 2 year old LOVES it and The Little Dummer Boy is now his favorite Christmas song. The illustrations are unique and beautiful. I never expected this one to be such a big hit with my kids.
January 21, 2021
Christmas fable about the Little Drummer boy who has been written about and sung about for centuries.
Keats here writes a nice version of the classic tale.
All that you would expect, but with Keats it is a step above the norm.
Keats here writes a nice version of the classic tale.
All that you would expect, but with Keats it is a step above the norm.
December 17, 2021
My daughter is 22 months old and loves listening to us sing the lyrics to this book. She even enjoys the illustrations and is very excited to see the baby Jesus at the end. Would highly recommend it as a Christmas book.
October 4, 2022
I didn't think this book would be about the drummer boy i always hear about on Christmas eve but it was. Definitely a very easy read, but people who weren't catholic or Christians I don't think would understand this book very well.
December 16, 2022
We have an old, used copy that’s faded and ripping at the seams, but it’s still such a beautiful book. Some kind of drumming toy or even a pot or pan would accompany this sing-along picture book perfectly.
May 8, 2025
A great fine, from the very popular and renowned Children's Ezra Jack Keats, the author of wonderful The Snowy Day. This will make a great Christmas storybook, as who doesn’t love the wonderful Christmas carol The Little Drummer Boy.
May 13, 2017
Gorgeously illustrated version of the beloved Christmas carol one cannot help but to sing aloud.
August 25, 2017
The lyrics to the Little Drummer Boy with Keat's wonderful illustrations
October 9, 2017
Entrancing illustrations for the text of the song, The Little Drummer Boy.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 108 reviews