Julio Juan Sebastian Vargas is an 18-year-old boy living in the heart of Spanish Harlem. He’s a school dropout who can’t get a job, has girl troubles, lives and fights with his aunt and sometime sells drugs. By barrio standards he’s a normal kid. That is, until he crosses Santos, a notorious drug dealing gangster. As Santos and his cold-blooded soldiers close in, Julio takes refuge in a public garden inhabited by an old man-a mystical Puerto Rican street drummer named, Rafa. Tasked by Rafa to build his very own Boku (traditional Puerto Rican hand-drum), Julio finds himself caught between the wonders of his cultural heritage and the sometimes violent, always seductive underbelly of the New York streets.

Of Dreams and Drums is a young adult fiction novel exploring the challenges facing today’s inner-city youth. On one side, the seduction of the street and its allure of power, riches, and respect; on the other side, an avalanche of lives marked by the failure and devastating consequence. Of Dreams and Drums is a story of this world, with a familiar beginning and entirely unique end.