Books like Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears
By Verna Aardema
For the kid who loves asking 'but why?' about everything, this is a whole story built to answer one silly, satisfying question. Rhythmic, dramatic, and richly patterned, with a folktale cadence that begs to be read aloud.
A rascally cat named Slinky Malinki turns into a nighttime thief, sneaking off to steal all sorts of things — until morning arrives and crime doesn't pay.
A young spider records his everyday life in diary entries — spinning sticky webs, scaling walls, taking wind-catching lessons, and surviving the occasional run-in with a vacuum cleaner.
Warned to fear the Big Bad Mouse, the Gruffalo's curious child sneaks into the deep dark wood to hunt him down — only to spot the mouse and a mysterious giant shadow looming close behind.
Bored with ordinary weather, a king orders his royal magicians to invent something new to fall from the sky — and gets a sticky green goo called Oobleck that soon overwhelms his entire kingdom.
A forgetful young possum wanders into the swamp despite his mama's warnings, and must play dead again and again to survive whatever creature might be the legendary loup-garou.
A cow, a donkey, a sheep, a pig, and a tiny mouse — good friends all — climb into a boat for a row in the bay, and the boat tips more precariously with each one who climbs aboard.
All the letters of the alphabet race each other up a coconut tree, chanting chicka chicka boom boom, until so many pile on that the whole tree tumbles them down.
A boy named Carlos climbs a tree in the Costa Rican cloud forest, dropping his banana-leaf umbrella below, where a tree frog, baby tapir, jaguar, and more all try to squeeze inside as it floats along.
Familiar nursery rhymes get an Alaskan makeover, swapping in snow geese, musk oxen, sea otters, and Arctic foxes as the North Country's wild critters take center stage.
A man and his little dog head out early one winter morning to learn how to ski, but a run-in with a curious moose sends them flying through the air and hanging above a snowy abyss.
A father and his four children set off to catch a bear, crossing grass, a river, mud, a forest, and a snowstorm before a narrow cave forces a sudden, breathless retreat.
A relentlessly cheerful stranger follows a grumpy skeptic everywhere, asking him to try green eggs and ham in a box, on a train, in the rain — anywhere, everywhere.
