Rating: 
Summary: Shared reader
Review: Don't pick apart the text too much, it won't make much sense to adults. Just be assured that within the first minute, any child will be completely engaged by the brilliant, somewhat old fashioned woodcut pictures and by the second or third reading will be crowing the refrain "fired it off!" with abandoned glee.
We finally discovered a paperback edition while at the Presidio bookstore in San Francisco, thereby giving the library copy a much needed rest. Yes, it ends abruptly and leaves me perplexed as to what exactly happened, but my children simple accept it as is and really enjoy testing their memories with cumulative rhymes.
Rating:
Summary: A bold and rhythmic cumulative folk verse
Review: Emberley's Drummer Hoff is a cumulative folk verse describing the assembly of a cannon before it can be fired. Not a story with a beginning, middle, and end, the text of Drummer Hoff, adapted by Barbara Emberley, progresses through military ranks as seven soldiers play separate roles in preparing a cannon in a grassy field. The text playfully rhymes the names of the soldiers with the portion of the cannon they bring and the rhythm and repetition suggest a military cadence, appropriate to the theme. The illustrations are woodcuts with bold lines and intense colors printed on textured, laid paper. With the old-fashioned style of the type and the illustrations, the story has a timeless feel, though the rich colors keep it vibrant and current. As each new soldier appears on the scene, the illustration becomes more elaborate with less and less white space until finally the General gives the order to fire. The story literally concludes with a bang, with the pages completely saturated in color and line representing the cannon's dramatic explosion. As a sort of anti-war epilogue, the final page of the story shows the cannon overgrown with flowers and home to nesting birds and a spider web.
Rating:
Summary: Anti-war message?
Review: Following the building process of a cannon is great for young readers/listeners. The poetry is a joy for adults read aloud. I haven't, however, read any review that mentions the possible anti-war message at the end. It's great discussion fodder for my wife and I and we will be sure to discuss this with our little Kate when she's old enough to consider such things. Right now she enjoys trying to eat the colorful woodcuts.
Rating:
Summary: Vietnam War Redux
Review: I used to read Drummer Hoff to my little girls in the late 1960's and early 1970's, at the height of the antiwar movement. I am saddened by the reviews that fail to find the message in this fine little book. It was published in 1967, and is such an obvious antiwar book that I can only feel the reviewers have little sense of history. The idyllic pastoral environment with little birds and flowers is blown to pieces at the end as the giant cannon, "Sultan," explodes. It is a tale of the self-destructive savagery of war. My little girls are now grown, about to have their own children, and I am giving Drummer Hoff to them, so their own antiwar instincts can be made vivid to their children in a language that all will find accessible and delightful.
Rating:
Summary: Vietnam War Redux
Review: I used to read Drummer Hoff to my little girls in the late 1960's and early 1970's, at the height of the antiwar movement. I am saddened by the reviews that fail to find the message in this fine little book. It was published in 1967, and is such an obvious antiwar book that I can only feel the reviewers have little sense of history. The idyllic pastoral environment with little birds and flowers is blown to pieces at the end as the giant cannon, "Sultan," explodes. It is a tale of the self-destructive savagery of war. My little girls are now grown, about to have their own children, and I am giving Drummer Hoff to them, so their own antiwar instincts can be made vivid to their children in a language that all will find accessible and delightful.
Rating:
Summary: Five stars from a fifth child
Review: My fifth child still remembers that everytime I read it to her, I said "I love this book!" So she asked me to buy it for her little boy for Christmas. I can't wait to read it to him and the rest of my 14 grandchildren of all ages!
Rating:
Summary: First the wadding, then the powder, then the shot...
Review: Okay, I'm gonna put this book in context for you. It's 1968. America is unofficially (according to all "reputable" sources) at war in Vietnam. It's the sixties. People are experimenting with drugs and the whole psychedelic scene. Enter the Caldecott Award winning, "Drummer Hoff". To the person who was writing the book jacket flap, this story, "will inspire a smart salute and a march about the room". To anyone who reads this book today, however, this is quintessential anti-war propaganda. And it's a marvelous read.Throughout this tale, Drummer Hoff (who fired it off) and his fellow bespangled soldiers, officers, corporals, etc. construct, before our eyes, a canon. As the verses continue we see each member of the company adding his own touch to the proceedings. For example, Corporal Farrell brings the barrel. Major Scott brings the shot. You get the idea. This all culminates with General Border who, in the end, gives the order and Drummer Hoff (finally abandoning his baton) fires it off. Suddenly the world is engulfed in blood red smoke, Hoff knocked slightly to one side, the extravagantly illustrated word, "KAHBAHBLOOOM" appearing. In our final scene the canon sits there, abandoned by the men. Baby birds grow in its mouth. The name of the canon (Sultan) has been buried and we now only see a smiling sun on its side. Grasshoppers frolic, a spider spins its web, and flowers are everywhere. Make of it what you will So let's look at it again. The words are very much like an old English series of verses. They could be 40 years old or 400. Now look at the illustrations. I think I'm truthful in saying that I have never read a children's book that looked like this. From the odd thick black lines that permeate every tiny detail of each page to the delicate trussing up of each member of the army, this book is fabulous. I just stare at the double page spread of the canon firing and I'm agog. It may not be drug induced, but this book certainly had something to say about its copyright date. Honestly, you've never seen a story like this before. Today we are living in a time when violence and war seem as normal as bacon and ham. With the world around us as dangerous as it is, the time has never been better to pull out our older copies of "Drummer Hoff" so as to take another gander. Read it through carefully. Appreciate the beauty of its lines and pictures. Then turn to that last page and just ponder it for a while. The book deserves that much, at least.
Rating:
Summary: First the wadding, then the powder, then the shot...
Review: Okay, I'm gonna put this book in context for you. It's 1968. America is unofficially (according to all "reputable" sources) at war in Vietnam. It's the sixties. People are experimenting with drugs and the whole psychedelic scene. Enter the Caldecott Award winning, "Drummer Hoff". To the person who was writing the book jacket flap, this story, "will inspire a smart salute and a march about the room". To anyone who reads this book today, however, this is quintessential anti-war propaganda. And it's a marvelous read. Throughout this tale, Drummer Hoff (who fired it off) and his fellow bespangled soldiers, officers, corporals, etc. construct, before our eyes, a canon. As the verses continue we see each member of the company adding his own touch to the proceedings. For example, Corporal Farrell brings the barrel. Major Scott brings the shot. You get the idea. This all culminates with General Border who, in the end, gives the order and Drummer Hoff (finally abandoning his baton) fires it off. Suddenly the world is engulfed in blood red smoke, Hoff knocked slightly to one side, the extravagantly illustrated word, "KAHBAHBLOOOM" appearing. In our final scene the canon sits there, abandoned by the men. Baby birds grow in its mouth. The name of the canon (Sultan) has been buried and we now only see a smiling sun on its side. Grasshoppers frolic, a spider spins its web, and flowers are everywhere. Make of it what you will So let's look at it again. The words are very much like an old English series of verses. They could be 40 years old or 400. Now look at the illustrations. I think I'm truthful in saying that I have never read a children's book that looked like this. From the odd thick black lines that permeate every tiny detail of each page to the delicate trussing up of each member of the army, this book is fabulous. I just stare at the double page spread of the canon firing and I'm agog. It may not be drug induced, but this book certainly had something to say about its copyright date. Honestly, you've never seen a story like this before. Today we are living in a time when violence and war seem as normal as bacon and ham. With the world around us as dangerous as it is, the time has never been better to pull out our older copies of "Drummer Hoff" so as to take another gander. Read it through carefully. Appreciate the beauty of its lines and pictures. Then turn to that last page and just ponder it for a while. The book deserves that much, at least.
Rating: 
Summary: Woodcut Drummer
Review: There is a rhyme that adds a line each segment as the primary text in this book. A cute story, though it is lacking a true beginning-middle-end, it could help children with rhyming words and the concepts of rime and onset. The illustrations are clever, interesting and appealing. They were created with carved woodblocks that were then dipped into ink and used like stamps. The curious feature however is the element of line and the way it is utilized. Why 3 stars?:
There is no real story to this. The rhyme is pointless and uninteresting. It possibly could have better if it went somewhere, but it is quite short. I considered using it for practice with rhyming, but the rhymes are fairly difficult. I would pass this one up unless you are a true collector of Caldecott winners.
Rating:
Summary: In The End You Need Drummer Hoff
Review: This is probably the best "read aloud" book you will find. The story is about soldiers building a cannon and the name of each character ryhmes with the job he undertakes in the project (Drummer Hoff fired it off). The Illustrations are so colorful, detailed, and unusual each character takes on his own personality without saying anything. Our hero remains however, the silent, solitary Drummer Hoff, waiting throughout to do his duty. Children will love to hear it read, learn to read it themselves, and then read it aloud to you. Wonderful.
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