author: Verna Aardema
illustrators: Diane and Leo Dillon
genre: myth/legend
age appropriate: pre k -3rd grade
summary: This African legend is said to explain why mosquitoes are pests. It begins with a mosquito whispering in the ear of an iguana who no longer wants to hear what the mosquito is saying so he puts sticks in his ears. As he walks through the jungle he sets in motion a chain of events with all the other animals that eventually leads to the sun not rising. The lion king calls a meeting and the problem is resolved when the animals realize it was a misunderstanding and that the story kept changing as it was passed on from animal to animal.
comments: A great story to explain why mosquitoes are pests and the pictures really give you a sense of being in Africa. A good game to play after reading this story is the telephone game, where you begin a secret at one end of the circle and have the children whisper it to each other until it reaches he last person. Rarely will the secret be the same at the end-which is a great demonstration of what happened in the story.
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