A search for one's place in the world provides the storyline: The narrator, a drum, feels like an outcast because he alone--unlike his family and friends--cannot play a melody. Like all kids growing up, he must find out where he fits. The narrator, a drum, wanders the streets of Coelho's vividly realized city of musical instruments--where even the birds sprout miniature trumpets from their mouths--feeling like an outcast because he alone,...