Why+Mosquitoes+Buzz+in+People's+Ears

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears by Verna Aardema

This story is an old African Legend brought to life through amazing images and sounds in the text. The story begins with Mosquito, who tells Iguana a tall tale, which then causes Iguana to become annoyed, so he puts sticks in his ears so he cannot hear Mosquito anymore. This causes a chain reaction throughout the jungle resulting in the death of one of Mother Owl's owlets. Mother Owl wakes the sun so the day can begin each morning but because she was so upset about the death of one of her owlets, she refuses to wake the sun. Eventually the story comes full circle, and Mosquito learns her lesson about telling tall tales, but picks up a worse habit; buzzing in people's ears.

The literary element I chose to evaulate in this story was the writing style. I thought that the author's use of sound in this story was very interesting, because the sound that is portrayed occurs right in the middle of a sentence. There is no break that would allow the reader to know that sound is going to be coming which, in the first few instances causes the reader to trip up, but after the reader realizes the odd words are actually sounds it creates a different reading style for the reader. I also think the way the story is written is as if it was being read aloud, is a good element to the story. There is a very distinct voice.

I enjoyed this book and I would have it in my classroom library for my students. The illustration alone are very colorful and utilize colorblocking and line textures very well. I think the story itself tells a very good moral as well. Verna Norberg Aardema was born in New Era, Michigan. She graduated from Michigan State Universit with a B.A. of Journalism in 1934. She worked as a grade school teacher from 1934 to 1973 and became a correspondent for the Muskegon Chronicle in 1951, which lasted until 1972, the year before she retired from teaching elementary school. Aardema has written numerous award winning children's books including Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears

Aardema, Verna, Leo Dillon, and Diane Dillon. //Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears: A West African Tale//. New York: Dial, 1975. Print.