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panda_incognito's review against another edition
4.0
In this retelling of a traditional African fable, when a mosquito says something foolish to an iguana, the iguana plugs up his ears with sticks. Because he is not listening, he causes a misunderstanding with another animal, and this starts a chain of frustrations and accidents that affect one animal after another.
This picture book has vibrant, colorful illustrations that won the Caldecott Award, and the text is well-written. The story purports to explain why the mosquito is such a hated animal, but adults should be aware that one accident kills a baby owl. A picture shows the mother cradling her dead baby around the other baby owls, and the rest of the story involves her looking for who is truly to blame. This is likely to upset sensitive children, and could be traumatic for a child who has dealt with the death of a sibling.
This story does not communicate an overt moral message, but shows how quickly things go awry when people misunderstand each other. Parents, educators, and librarians can use this with kindergarten and younger elementary students as an introduction to fables and sequential stories, and with older children, they can discuss the moral elements of the tale. Should the animals have blamed the mosquito? How could someone else have stopped this chain of events? What are real-life examples of this kind of blame, and how does it affect other people in the community? As long as children can handle the baby animal’s death, this unusual and interesting fable can create rich discussions.
This picture book has vibrant, colorful illustrations that won the Caldecott Award, and the text is well-written. The story purports to explain why the mosquito is such a hated animal, but adults should be aware that one accident kills a baby owl. A picture shows the mother cradling her dead baby around the other baby owls, and the rest of the story involves her looking for who is truly to blame. This is likely to upset sensitive children, and could be traumatic for a child who has dealt with the death of a sibling.
This story does not communicate an overt moral message, but shows how quickly things go awry when people misunderstand each other. Parents, educators, and librarians can use this with kindergarten and younger elementary students as an introduction to fables and sequential stories, and with older children, they can discuss the moral elements of the tale. Should the animals have blamed the mosquito? How could someone else have stopped this chain of events? What are real-life examples of this kind of blame, and how does it affect other people in the community? As long as children can handle the baby animal’s death, this unusual and interesting fable can create rich discussions.
allen_h's review against another edition
4.0
This is a story that involves a chain reaction of sorts. It begins with a mosquito bothering an iguana by speaking to it. This causes the iguana to plug his ears with sticks. This causes the iguana to not hear the python speaking to it who assumes the iguana is angry and up to no good. The python hides in a rabbit hole, scaring the rabbit out, who alarms a crow, who alarms a monkey. The monkey then runs to a branch that breaks causing it to fall on and kill an owlet. King lion calls court and the root of the cause is found out by going backward through the characters. In the end the mosquito is hiding, and now only buzzes in people's ears asking if it is safe to come out of hiding.
I thought this book was good. I enjoyed the story as it unfolded and as the blame went back through the animals to the beginning. It was pretty cool how the legend of myth of the mosquito buzzing in people's ears was explained through this tale.
I think that the students would just like to hear this story read or read it themselves. I also think that this book could be used to follow the path of the story, and used to put things in order. That might be a way to check the children's comprehension or listening. It could also be used for moral reasons to show how things or events can cause others to occur without there really being a reason.
I thought this book was good. I enjoyed the story as it unfolded and as the blame went back through the animals to the beginning. It was pretty cool how the legend of myth of the mosquito buzzing in people's ears was explained through this tale.
I think that the students would just like to hear this story read or read it themselves. I also think that this book could be used to follow the path of the story, and used to put things in order. That might be a way to check the children's comprehension or listening. It could also be used for moral reasons to show how things or events can cause others to occur without there really being a reason.
lvv205's review against another edition
4.0
My 5 year old loves the onomatopoeias (wasawusu wasawusu, etc) describing the animals' movements
minda's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
graventy's review against another edition
3.0
I liked it, and I think my nephew liked it, but I didn't really anticipate the death of a child in the middle and it kind of threw my reading game off a bit.
munchin's review against another edition
4.0
A funny origin story. There is good use of repetition in this story which is very good for memory. This is evident to me because I remember the words to this tale almost word-for-word from kindergarten. The illustrations were really nothing special. I actually didn't like the style or color scheme all that much, but the story is a good one. Animal rights activists will HATE the final panel, but it made me chuckle.