Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears

Why Mosquitos Buzz in People's Ears by Verna Aardema

Illustrated by Leo and Diane Dilon

Caldecott Award Winner/Multicultural

This book explains why mosquitoes buzz in people's ears, as the title suggests. The animals in the forest participate in a chain of events that starts with the mosquito telling annoying stories to the iguana, and ends with a baby owlet dead. When mamma owl finds out that one of her babies has died, she refuses to wake the sun with her 'hoo-ing' so the animals are left in darkness. The animals have a meeting and discover that the mosquito is to blame for it all. The owl wakes the sun, the mosquito leaves the forest and to this day, whispers in people's ears asking, "Is everyone still mad at me?"

This book is great for introducing folklore that explains some type of natural phenomena. Although it's not mentioned in common core (from what I've seen), I think it would be fun to use this book and have students write their own stories to explain some sort of natural event. Since that topic is seen so often in multicultural literature, it seems worthwhile to explore, and it would be fun to create one!

Aardema, V. (1975). Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears. New York, NY: Dial Press.