Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears

Title: Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears

Author: Verna Aardema

Illustrator: Leo and Diane Dillon

Genre: Caldecott

Awards: Caldecott Medal

Age Group: Pre-K–2nd grade

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears is an African legend following the tale of how a pesky mosquito leads to the sun ceasing to rise, a bunch of angry animals, and buzzing in people's ears (as says in the title). It all begins when a mosquito lies to an iguana, causing him to shove sticks in his ears to block out the noise. There is a misunderstanding between the iguana and his friend, the python, causing a chain of events in which the python scares the rabbit, who scares the crow, who scares the monkey, who kills Mother Owl's baby. For this reason, Mother Owl will not summon the sun to rise. When the animals realize the mosquito is behind this, the little bug becomes afraid. So: the reason why mosquitoes buzz in people's ears is to ask if everyone is still mad at him. The answer? A slap.
I would without a doubt use this story in my classroom! Not only are the illustrations stunning (hence the Caldecott Medal!), but I think we as Houstonians all want to know the answer to the question of why, in fact, mosquitoes buzz in our ears (or even exist in the first place, but that's beside the point...). The story is easy to understand and incorporates a lot of repetition as well as onomatopoeia with all of the animal sounds! Perfect for a read aloud!
This book is great for younger kids (Pre-K through 2nd in my opinion) because of the simplicity and repetition. The kids would probably have fun taking part in the animal sounds when reading aloud. 
A lesson plan idea using Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears would be to create an onomatopoeia flap book. On the flap could be the sound (ex: wasawusu) and then when you open the flap you would see the animal that made that sound (ex: the python). Onomatopoeia is definitely the element that stood out to me in this book!
(P.S. The only reason why my phone is in the picture is because you totally can't tell what book this is otherwise, which is a shame, because the cover art is so vibrant and cool!)