Rana Powell Winfrey
Rana Powell WinfreyAnalysis 1
Analysis of Traditional Literature
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in Peoples EarsA. Basic Information:
1.Author:
Verna Aardema
Illustrator:
Leo and Diane Dillon
2.Title:
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in Peoples Ears
Date of Publication:1975
3.Genre:
Folktale Cumulative Tale
4.Format:
Picture Book
5.Awards:
Winner of the Caldecott Award (1976)
B. Book Critique using Norton Evaluation Criteria:
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in Peoples Ears is an African folk tale that
provides an explanation of why mosquitoes buzz near people ears.
From the folktale, we learn that it is that they are cursed with a
guilty conscious about the chain reaction of drama that they have
caused. The book begins with the mosquito telling an iguana about
seeing a farmer dig a yam that was bigger than a mosquito. The
iguana considers the information to be a lie and puts sticks in his
ears to prevent himself from hearing anything else the mosquito has
to say. This act causes a sequence of negative events that affect
many animals throughout the kingdom. Overall, this ends in the
death of a young owlet. The death causes the mother owl to go into
a time of mourning over the loss of her baby. Her grief causes her
to be unable to wake the sun up in the morning. After careful
investigation, The King Lion discovers who is responsible for the
drama and command that the mosquito be punished for his
wrongdoings. This makes the owl mother pleased, and she calls out
to wake up the sun. In the end, the mosquito was never found so
that he could be given his punishment. In conclusion, the mosquito
now buzzes in peoples ears to get rid of his guilt and checks to
see if anyone is still mad at him. From the book, I gathered
several ideas that could be used to encourage a childs imagination.
The illustrations are bright and colorful, and the narrative uses
onomatopoeia with the animal sounds after each character. I also
feel that this story could be used to enrich peoples ideas about
community, especially the concept of how the actions of one person
can affect others.C. Book Response Activity:
My school believes in using small group activities and
instruction in the classroom. After having a read aloud of the
book, I would separate the class into groups to participate in
center activities that relate to the book. Center 1
The center would focus on developing fluency. The students would
be given copies of the story to perform as Readers Theatre. As the
students read the text, they would also be improving their fluency
and reading ability.
Center 2
This center would be related to the concept of sequencing. Each
student would be given a print out of the characters. The students
would cut out each character and paste it onto a sentence strip in
the order as they affected each other in the story. After
completing the sentence strip part of the activity, student can
retell the story to their partner. In this activity, the students
would be developing their sequencing skills, recalling details of a
story, and working with cause and effect.
Center 3
This center would include informational writing. Students would
have factual print outs about each animal mentioned from the story.
They would choose one animal and develop a paragraph about that
animal. After writing the paragraph, they would share the
information with a partner or with their group.
Center 4 In this center, students would work on story
comprehension. I would create story cards prior to the read aloud.
First, students would place the animals cards face down and try to
recall all of the animals from the story. After identifying the
animals, the students will match the animal cards with the action
cards. Next, the students will match the onomatopoeia cards or
sound cards with the animal that made that sound. After review the
story with the cards, students can play Concentration with the
cards. They can lay all of the cards face down and flip them over
three at a time to correctly match the animal, action and sound
cards.Jack and the Bean Stalk
A. Basic Information:
1.Author:
Not Available
Illustrator:
Pat Paris
2.Title:
Jack and the Bean Stalk
Date of Publication:2002
3.Genre:
Folktale
4.Format:
Picture Book
5.Awards:
Not Available
B. Book Critique using Norton Evaluation Criteria:
Jack and the Beanstalk is a story with many different versions.
This one was a little different for me because I dont think I have
heard the story where the giant has a wife. Jack and the Beanstalk
is a common folktale that is about a young boy, Jack, who receives
magic beans. Jack lives with his mother, and they struggle to make
a living. They have sold nearly all of their belongings so they can
have food to survive. One day, their dearest cow stopped producing
milk so Jack took her to the market to be sold. On the way to the
market Jack encountered a man willing to trade the cow for magic
beans. Jack takes the beans and hurries home with excitement. Jacks
mother is not happy about the beans and she throws them out and
sends Jack to bed. When Jack wakes up the next morning, he finds
that the beans have grown into a large beanstalk. Then, Jack
decides to climb the beanstalk and find the home of a giant at the
top of the beanstalk. Jack convinces the giants wife into inviting
him in for dinner. While inside Jack steals gold from the giant and
returns home to his mother. Due to his greed, Jack returns to the
giants house and steals the giants prize hen. When the giant sees
Jack stealing from him again, he runs after Jack hoping he will
catch him and eat him. Last, Jack runs away, quickly climbs down
the beanstalk and cuts it causing the giant to tumble down to his
death.
I have always enjoyed reading Jack and the Beanstalk; however, I
believe this book should be read to older children due to some of
the issues mentioned in the story. The story is good but ends with
darkness with the death of the giant and some challenging issues.
This story touches on death, stealing, and money concerns. I think
discussing these matters in the classroom would give children the
chance to show understanding of the difference between right and
wrong and how these situations could be approached differently
today. C. Book Response Activity:
I would read more than one version of Jack and the Bean Stalk to
the class. Prior to reading the versions, I would run copies of the
covers of the book to paste on chart paper for the students to
distinguish the different versions. Next, we would discuss the
similarities and differences of the different versions. The
students would also write the information in a Venn Diagram to
compare and contrast the stories. The activity could also be
related to math by creating a graph of which version the students
liked the best.
