Overview
From Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe Award winner Alicia D. Williams comes a rhythmic picture book about an irrepressible little drummer determined to outwit the grumpy, noise-hating Lion. Nani loves to drum. Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum. Her music captures the sounds of life, rustles the forest leaves, rouses all the critters, and never fails to get the villagers up and dancing, dancing, dancing. But one day, they’re too scared to dance. Lion, king of the land, has outlawed noisemaking of any kind. The villagers beg her to stay quiet. Nani’s heart pounds with fear, but her love for drumming beats more loudly. To keep playing her music and bringing joy to her village, Nani must stand up to the biggest bully around armed with only courage, quick thinking, and her drum.
Full Product Details
Author: Alicia D. Williams ,
Anna Cunha
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Imprint: Atheneum
Dimensions:
Width: 27.90cm
, Height: 1.30cm
, Length: 25.40cm
Weight: 0.510kg
ISBN: 9781665914222
ISBN 10: 166591422
Pages: 40
Publication Date: 12 February 2026
Recommended Age: From 4 to 8 years
Audience:
Children/juvenile
,
Children / Juvenile
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Not yet available
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.
Reviews
Grouchy and despotic Lion prowls the edge of young Nani’s village, frightening its human inhabitants and the other animals alike. “I am Lion, lord of the land! No one dares make noise in King Lion’s land!” [...] Everyone is frightened, but the clever protagonist knows what will soothe the savage beast. Williams’s (Steptoe winner and Newbery honoree for Genesis Begins Again, rev. 1/19) text has the cadence of a folktale, with ear-pleasing sound effects and patterns and featuring a satisfying resolution. Cunha’s (illustrator of Indigo Dreaming, rev. 9/22) beautifully textured and colorful digital illustrations center her characteristic rosy-cheeked, brown-skinned humans—and one very expressive big cat. -- Horn Book * January/February 2026 Issue *
Author Information
Alicia D. Williams is the author of Mid-Air, which was longlisted for the National Book Award; Genesis Begins Again, which received Newbery and Kirkus Prize honors, was a William C. Morris Award finalist, and for which she won the Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe Award for New Talent; and picture books Jump at the Sun, Nani and the Lion, and The Talk, which was also a Coretta Scott King Honor book. An oral storyteller in the African American tradition, she lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. Anna Cunha is a Brazilian illustrator, living and working in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. She has illustrated more than twenty books for Brazilian and foreign publishers, been nominated for the 2022 Kate Greenaway Medal, and won the AEILIJ Prize for her work. She is the illustrator of Fly by Brittany J. Thurman and Nani and the Lion by Alicia D. Williams.
