Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears (youtube link)
Author: Verna Aardema
Illustrator: Diane Dillon and Leo Dillon
In this West African folk tale, retold by Verna Aardema, a mosquito brags to an iguana that he spied a farmer digging yams as big as mosquitoes. The iguana scoffs at such a notion and refuses to listen to any more nonsense. Grumbling, he puts sticks in his ears and scuttles off through the reeds and sets off a chain reaction among myriad animals inhabiting the same landscape.
The iguana offends a friendly python, who shoots down a rabbit hole and terrifies a rabbit. Seeing the rabbit scares a crow overhead, who spreads an alarm that danger is near. When a monkey reacts to the alarm, an owlet is killed, which sets off a wave of grieving in the mother owl so profound that she is unable to wake the sun each day with her hooting.
The nights grow longer, and when the King Lion calls a meeting to get to the bottom of the situation, the chain of events is traced back to the source of all the trouble, the pesky mosquito. Finding the culprit satisfies the mother owl, who calls the sun back again. But, alas, the mosquito is forever plagued with a guilty conscience, compelling him forever to be a pest.
The vibrant neo-primitive illustrations, which earned this title a Caldecott medal in 1976, enhance and embellish the tale. This is a timeless story sure to charm a wide range of readers and listeners.
Story lines:
Mosquito bragged to an iguana
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Iguana was annoyed by mosquito and then put sticks in its ears.
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Iguana ignored the python.
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The python was shocked and hide in a rabbit hole.
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The rabbit was frightened and ran out the hole.
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The crow was scare by the rabbit and flew away.
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The monkey thought that was an alarm so it climbed to another tree.
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The monkey broke an dead limb and the limb fall to kill the owlet. (conflict)
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Mother Owl was so sad and went find King Lion for a solution.
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They found that the mosquito is the "real killer" and the king lion wanted to punish it. (solution)
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But the mosquito ran away from punishment.
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The mosquito has a "guilty conscience."
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They buzz in people's ear and say "Zee! Is everyone still angry at me?"
The King Lion: So, it was the mosquito who annoyed the iguana, who frightened the python, who scared the rabbit, who startled the crow, who alarmed the monkey, who killed the owlet.
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