Tuko is a gecko who wants to sing with the birds. His voice isn't a singing voice so he annoys the birds until they can get him to leave. It's a story of being out of place and a warning to strangers: if you are a stranger, if you annoy us, you should leave when we ask you to leave.

This is a nice story from a culture that doesn't often receive a lot of attention. The illustrations are very colorful and pretty. The language is very simple and repetitive, so I feel that it would be a great book to read aloud to students in pre-k or kindergarten.

I was not familiar with this folktale and, having just completed a folktale unit with my first and second graders, I was eager to add another story to my collection.
A curricular connection could be made with first and second grade by having students retell the story in a short narrative focusing on the using language that indicates the passage of time and indicates closure of the story (http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/2/3/).

High above the village of Maynilad (modern-day Manila), in an old hut on the slopes of Mount Pinatubo, a group of birds gathered to sing every evening, alerting the villagers below to the fact that it was time to prepare for bed. Then one day, Tuko - an oblivious, arrogant, and very loud gecko - arrived on the scene, disrupting the peaceful routine with his raucous cry. Nothing the birds did or said could convince him to leave, until Haribon the eagle became involved...

Climo's engaging narrative is paired with expressive watercolor illustrations by Francisco X. Mora, depicting Tuko's glee and the birds' dismay. Young folklore enthusiasts will appreciate the humor of this tale, in which an irritating nuisance finally gets his just deserts. I myself was pleased to stumble across another Filipino folktale so soon after Jose Aruego's A Crocodile's Tale, and think I will try to track down an anthology... ( )