Why Mosquitos Buzz In People's Ears

Title: Why Mosquitos Buzz In People's Ears

Author: Verna Aardema

Illistrator: Leo and Diane Dillon

Stars: 5 out of 5

Summary: In this story a chain of events happens that ends in the owl refusing to call the sun to rise and make it daytime. At the end of the story we understand why a mosquito buzzes in our ears.

                There are a lot of ways that this story could be used in the classroom. First I noticed while reading that Aardema uses a lot of onomonopeas. She describes things like the crow crying “kaa, kaa, kaa!”, the rabbit bounding “krik, krik, krik” and the iguana bobbing its head “badamin badamin”. These are great examples of a technique that is sometimes difficult for students to understand. I love the way Aardema’s use of onomonopias really make the reader see and hear the story. This is also a great story to teach children about assumptions. Each character assumes that he or she knows why the other is reacting in the way that they do. Each character assumes wrong and therefore causes a chain of events that ends up killing on of Mother Owl’s owlets. As a teacher I could make a social studies unit revolving around why it is wrong to make assumptions and why we should always clarify when we misunderstand. This is a great example of creating a story based on something that happens in everyday life. As a teacher I could have my students write a story based on something that they don’t understand such as why the sun rises every morning. Their stories would have to explain what causes this to happen. I believe that Verna Aardem’s story could be extremely useful