The Little Drummer Girl: An Unexpected Christmas Story - Sheila Walsh - ★★★

AUTHOR: Sheila Walsh

ILLUSTRATOR: Marcin Piwowarski

GENRE: Children's Picture Book, Christmas.

PUBLICATION DATE: November 4, 2025

RATING:

In a Nutshell: A Christmas picture book about a little girl who dreams of one thing and gets something else. A cute story with a nice Christmas message and lovely illustrations. But the rhymes were a bit off. I might have liked this better if it were written in simple prose. Could work better with those who aren’t particular about poetic meter while reading aloud to their kids.

Plot Preview:

Isabella has always dreamed of playing an angel in the annual Nativity play, so when she sees the call for auditions, she is quite excited and rehearses all her lines well. But when she gets selected to play the drummer girl – a role with no lines, she is heartbroken. Why is this Christmas so disappointing? Is there any way it will improve?

The story comes to us in Isabella’s first-person POV.

A few years ago, our Children’s Choir team was putting up a choral nativity performance in our parish. One big hurdle during casting was that there was no “eligible little man” for the drummer boy; all our participating boys were either too old or too young (or too incompetent 🤐) for the role. So we changed the narrative and turned the character into a girl. The minute I saw this title listed on NetGalley, I recollected that glorious day, when our little drummer girl drummed her way into the congregation’s heart.

Unfortunately, the protagonist of this story wasn’t a fan of playing a drummer girl. It’s not the same as being an angel with a sparkling white gown, beautiful wings, and a golden halo, right? But her dad’s loving wisdom and his pre-Christmas gift help Isabella realise that God has a plan for everyone, even if it doesn’t match the plan we have for ourselves.

I liked Isabella as the protagonist. Her excitement and her dismay comes across strongly on the page. I totally love her spunk! It is so nice to see a female lead in a Christmas story, and also to see her father be the guiding voice instead of the usual depiction of mothers playing this role.

The storyline is quite good, and if read by parent/guardian and child together, it will offer plenty of moments for laughter as well as reflection. It highlights togetherness, perseverance, handling of disappointment, belief in the Creator’s will, and the sanctity of Christmas. I love that this Christmas book focusses more on the birth of the Saviour than on material considerations such as decorations and parties and gifts.

That said, I wish there had been a greater focus on the ‘drummer girl’ part. A good chunk of the story is spent in offering other background details that aren’t necessary. The main drummer girl scene was barely a page long. There was nothing about rehearsals, or about how Isabella went from “drum-noise-maker” to the perfect drummer girl.

The funniest scenes are the ones where Isabella is practising her ‘rum pum pum’ on her new drum. ‘The Little Drummer Boy’ is one of my favourite carols (the BoneyM version being my preferred one), but even I am not sure if baby Jesus was startled by the sudden banging next to his manger-cradle on that serene night. 😅 Seeing Isabella bang her drum with gusto was hilarious to watch.

The illustrations are adorable, as can be seen from the cover art itself. The full-colour graphics have a crayon-kind of effect, and appear bright and Christmassy, which works excellently for the story. I especially love the way little Isabella was sketched with her wild red curls and wide smile. Her pup Maggie is a cute addition.

All this makes the book sound like a great option. But the one place where it really lost my stars was in the writing. As it is, I am not a big fan of rhythmic prose in stories, even if rhymes are helpful to kids. Few picture books these days actually retain accuracy of meter so the text is rarely smooth while reading aloud. This book has a clear rhyme pattern (ABCB), but the rhymes are often forced in just to meet the pattern and the meter gets sacrificed. When there are four lines in a verse, the number of syllables in the alternate pairs needs to match so that kids understand the exact beat of the rhyme. Having one long and one short sentence in the pair just doesn’t work. Moreover, adding random lines to a verse just to complete the rhyme doesn’t add value to the reading experience. (At least for me. I am sure there are many readers who don’t even bother about syllables and can read such text expertly. I unfortunately cannot.) I am sure I would have enjoyed this story far better if it were in prose (or in proper metered couplets).

Overall, this picture book has a lovely story with an adorable protagonist, sweet illustrations, and nice Christian values. But the writing style with the lack of meter and forced rhymes didn’t work for me at all. This won't be a hurdle to every reader, so you can take a call according to your comfort level with random rhyming. The book is aimed at kids aged 3-8 years.

My thanks to Baker Books for providing the DRC of “The Little Drummer Girl” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.