ZZZNG! ZZZNG! ZZZNG!
A Yoruba Tale
adapted by Phillis Gershator & illustrated by Theresa Smith
After Mosquito proposes in turn to Ear, Arm, and Leg, and is turned down for being too small and weak to last, she angrily turns on them: “I’ll bite zzzng-zzzng/deep, deep zzzng-zzzng/in your sleep zzzng-zzzng.” Gershator (Sweet, Sweet Fig Banana, 1996, etc.) expands a story found in a language textbook, adding sound effects and giving Mosquito an appreciative mate in the end—a male mosquito: “You please me a lot,” he says, “you’re big and strong, and I like your music too.” Nonetheless, conjugal bliss doesn’t stop Mosquito from passing her biting ways on to her children. Smith illustrates this alternative to Verna Aardema’s classic Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears (1975) with close-ups of striped Mosquito, bristling with pointed extremities, against backgrounds of saturated blues and greens. A simple, clever story that will not only be new to young readers, but in this lively recasting lends itself equally well to reading alone or out loud. (Picture book/folklore. 5-8)