Drummer Hoff
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| Author | Barbara Emberley |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Ed Emberley |
| Country | United States |
| Genre | Children's picture book |
| Publisher | Prentice-Hall |
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Publication date
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1967 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 17300593 |
| 784.4/05 19 | |
| LC Class | PZ8.3.E515 Dr 1987 |
Drummer Hoff is the title and main character of a children's book by Barbara and Ed Emberley. Ed Emberley won the 1968 Caldecott Medal for the book's illustrations. Written by Barbara Emberley, it tells a cumulative tale of seven soldiers who build a cannon named the "Sultan", and Drummer Hoff, who fires it off, with the book exploding into a blast of colors. The last picture shows the exploded cannon at a future point in time among wildflowers and birds. The illustrations evoke both 1960s psychedelica and Colonial American engravings. In 1969 it was transformed into an animated 6 minute theatrical short, directed by Gene Deitch and produced by Morton Schindel of Weston Woods Studios. It was released on DVD in 2008.
Each soldier's name rhymes with a step in the process of firing the gun, e.g. General Border gives the order, Sergeant Chowder brings the powder.
Drummer Hoff has been described as an "ingenious picture book," one whose perfect simplicity may suggest some kind of "didactic intent." Ed Emberley denied that the book had any deep moral value to it:
The book’s main theme is a simple one — a group of happy warriors build a cannon that goes “KAHBAHBLOOM.” But, there is more to find if you "read" the pictures. They show that men can fall in love with war and, imitating the birds, go to meet it dressed as if to meet their sweethearts. The pictures also show that men can return from war sometimes with medals, and sometimes with wooden legs...The book’s primary purpose is, as it should be, to entertain.
According to the Online Computer Library Center, the book is "adapted from a folk verse." Ed Emberley explained that the book was adapted from the rhyme "John Ball Shot Them All," from the book The Annotated Mother Goose: Nursery Rhymes Old and New, Arranged and Explained, edited by William S. Baring-Gould and his wife Lucile "Ceil" Baring-Gould. The original rhyme goes:
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