Marcus Finds His Voice
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
“What can you hear? “Grandfather asked Marcus. Marcus closed his eyes so that he could focus on the sound around him and not be distracted by the visual movement. Well, there seems to be two sounds, one is a high-pitched hum and the other a clicking sound. “Exactly right!” Exclaimed grandfather, proud of the budding young scientist sitting before him. The high-pitched humming sound is the call of the male cicada announcing its location to any female cicada nearby. The clicks represent the female responses. “Watch this.” [p.10] All of Marcus’ attention turned to Pops. He did not know what was about to happen, but he knew it would be something amazing. With a mischievous grin on his face, grandfather raised his hands and began snapping his fingers. The sound was quite similar to that of the click made by the female cicada. Within seconds five cicadas had landed on his arm, clinging to his sweater each apparently hoping to capture the attention of a female by sending out a competing loud hum. “I’m sorry to have tricked you my little friends.” Pops said, waiting for them to fly off in their missed attempt to find the true object of their attention. [p. 11] Insert illustration 5- Grandfather & Marcus on the bench, grandfather snapping his fingers and 5 cicadas landing on his arm. [p.12] The adults all have wings, how do the eggs get underground? Asked Marcus. Excellent question. The female creates a slit in the trunk or branch of a tree where she will deposit the eggs. It will take about 6-8 weeks for the eggs to hatch. The first phase of their life is as an instar nymph with a long body, antennae and six legs. The nymphs drop to the ground and begin to burrow into the soil to feed on the root system of the tree underground. [p. 13] “That’s amazing!” exclaimed Marcus. It is indeed, especially when you consider that there will be no adult cicadas to guide or show the young ones what to do. The adult life cycle is complete after mating. For the 17 years that the nymphs remain underground they go through five instar stages before emerging to molt, donning their winged adult form to regenerate the cycle. [p. 14]
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About the Book
This story, as with the other books in the Marcus series, invites young readers to explore their natural world and experience its wonders through the eyes of its lovable protagonist. The syllabic highlighting of text provides young readers greater ease in applying phonetic understanding to decode new vocabulary. The rich vocabulary is intentional, and awakens the mind to an exciting linguistic adventure that will be experienced by the young reader as a challenge overcome. It is the author’s heartfelt desire that this story be an initial spark igniting a life-long passion for reading and unlocking the power of literacy for its readers.
About the Author
As an educator and educational researcher, Dr. Malungu is concerned that our youngest, media savvy generation are losing the chance to experience the magic of reading; preferring instead to rely on a more passive, media-rich exposure to literature. While entertaining, movies are someone else’s interpretation of a story. She has never forgotten how her own love for reading was ignited. At the age of 5, during her first visit to the school library. The librarian whispered in her ear - “Reading is magic, and opens the door to everything and anything you want to learn!” Reading not only enables us… to envision realities outside of our familiar surroundings, to meet, have an affinity for, and empathize with characters who face challenges similar or not so similar to those we may be experiencing ourselves, to access world views and perceptions we may never have considered, to expand vocabulary, but much more importantly, it provides us the opportunity to hone our creative, visualization skills. Like muscles that are not exercised and lose strength – creative visualization if not practiced and developed can experience atrophy as well.