Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears By Verna Aardema

Multicultural Blog Post
Book: Why Mosquitos Buzz in People’s Ears By Verna Aardema Illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon

Publisher: Puffin Books

ISBN: 0 14 0.54905 6

Why Mosquitos Buzz in People’s Ears by Verna Aardema is a bright, colorful book with a great story line.  The story starts with a mosquito and an iguana having a conversation; the mosquito tells the iguana that he “saw a farmer digging yams that were almost as big as I am”.  The iguana didn’t believe him so he stuck sticks in his ears so he couldn’t listen to any more nonsense from the mosquito.  The domino effects starts, the iguana is oblivious to his surroundings, the python tries to talk to the iguana, he doesn’t answer so the python slips in to a rabbit hole.  The rabbit sees the python entering his hole and runs for his life; the crow sees the rabbit running and starts to spread an alarm.  A monkey hears the crow’s cries and runs to alert the other animals.  As the monkey travels through the trees he hits a dead branch, which kills an owlet.  The Mother Owl finds her dead owlet and mourns over the loss; she doesn’t “wake the sun so that dawn could come”.  Night lingers on for days. The King Lion calls a meeting and wants to know why the sun isn’t rising.  The animals are blaming each other for the owlet’s death.  The King Lion traced the cause back to the mosquito: “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- and now Mother Owl won’t wake the sun so that the day can come.”  The Mother Owl finally calls for the sun once she knows who is responsible for her owlet’s death.  The mosquito felt awful for what happened she asks people if everyone is still mad at her and the only answer she gets is a slap.

         I loved the illustrations in the book; they are unique, colorful, fun and engaging.  Every time you flip the page there are new animals and colors, it’s a feast for the eyes.  One thing that I noticed is the difference in the colors of the animals during the day and night.  There are subtle differences but you notice that during the day all of the animals and plants are brighter and vivid.  However, at night the colors are muted.  This shows the attention to detail, and is impeccably done. Another aspect that makes the picture more detailed is that all of the animals are outlined in white instead of black.  I think it gives the illustrations more ‘pop’, structure and stand out more.  In some pages the animals look like a tangram or puzzle pieces in a way.  The many shapes, sizes and colors, which create each animal, are distinct to that species only.  The artwork is a clever use of artistic skills.

         What is interesting in this book are the way each animal behaves is true to nature.  In the wild animals rely on each other for safety, food and shelter amongst other things.  We see the chain reaction of animal instinct and the need to protect the others from dangerous predators.  The monkey who accidentally killed the owlet was only doing his job.  It is sad that the owlet died but if there truly was a predator the outcome could have been worse. 

         This is a harmonious story line.  It seems realistic because we see different animals on every page, some are flying, walking on the land, in the water swimming, or sitting in a tree.  By placing the animals in this way make the pictures more interesting and every time you read the book you notice something new.

         Through all of the confusion, and tragedy, the King Lion steps in to make everything right and find out who is responsible for the owlets death.  The King Lion, is highly respected by the other animals and obey his every command, you can tell he has a strong demeanor and makes everyone pay attention to him.  Each animal has his or her own personality, which comes through.  The mosquito seems to brag about the yam size and the iguana couldn’t care less about her or her yam.  I think it’s funny because we see the mosquito bragging at the beginning of the story and by the end she is humble and apologetic.  Even though the mosquito didn’t have much to do with the core of the story she is still affected by the events and her persona changes.

         In addition, the story has a lot of emotion throughout.  It’s intriguing because the story becomes a mystery in finding out which animal is at fault for the owlet’s death.  At times the emotions of the animals are funny, hectic, scared, sad, confusion, thoughtful, guilt and painful all come to mind when reading this book.

         I think this is a beautiful book that has a lot going on with it; it’s not busy but gives you a lot to think about and look at.  I’d recommend reading this book in class since it covers many subject areas.