Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears

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Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears: A West African Tale is a picture book written for young children, which tells an African legend. In the book, the mosquito lies to an iguana, who puts sticks in his ears and ends up frightening another animal, which down a long line causes a panic. In the end, one of the owlets is killed and the owl is too sad to wake the sun until the animals hold court and find out who is responsible. The mosquito is eventually found out, but it hides in order to escape punishment. So now it constantly buzzes in people's ears to find out if everyone is still angry at it.

The book won a Caldecott Award in 1976 for its illustrators, Leo and Diane Dillon. It was the first of their two consecutive Caldecott wins; the second was for Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions.

Preceded by
Arrow to the Sun
Caldecott Medal recipient
1976
Succeeded by
Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions