“害怕黑暗”是孩子普遍會遇到的狀況, 小時侯都曾有過這種經驗,害怕床底下會藏著各種可怕的猛獸,或是半夜醒來看著牆上的剪影彷彿魔幻巨人,幻想著下一瞬間會不會被張開大口的巨人吞噬掉?黑暗像是擁有各種恐懼的可能性和威脅性.在Paul Hoppe的繪本"The Woods"中, 描寫一個原本怕黑的男孩如何勇敢的面對自己的恐懼並克服它的故事. 繪本中的男孩在臨睡前發現自己心愛的小兔子不見了,而最有可能找到它的地方卻是在黑漆漆又深不可測的樹林裡,他很想找回小免子,但又害怕樹林裡是否有可怕的怪獸等著他呢?但他決定還是要鼓起勇氣, 朝樹林前進!他全副武裝(瞧!他頭頂桶子如鋼盔,披上小被巾如披風, 配上夜燈,手拿寶劍)口裡說著I wasn’t afraid. I wasn’t afraid.”我不怕我不怕!”,鼓勵著自己, I wasn’t afraid at all.直到遇到了一隻大棕熊Until I ran into a big scary brown bear! 男孩呆住了,“大熊會傷害我嗎?” But the bear was just afraid of the dark.男孩動了慈心,so I shared my night-light with him. Then the big brown bear followed me deeper into the Woods. 就這樣男孩踏上了他的冒險之旅. 他陸續又遇到了two scary giants,

(But the giants were just bored.)a triple-headed dragon(But the dragon just had a stomachache.)男孩一一化解了看似兇猛的怪獸們,還與他們變成朋友結伴同行,最後他們攜手合作一起面對黑暗的恐懼We took each other by the hand and marched into the dark together. 大夥手牽手摸黑前進, 結果遇到此行中最大的怪獸We ran into a VERY BIG HAIRY, SCARY MONSTER!哎呀!小兔子就捏在他手上. 男孩鼓起勇氣問怪獸Why did you take my bunny?沒想到看似兇猛的大怪獸落寞的說Because I’m lonely all by myself in this big ,spooky, dark cave.原來這外表張牙舞爪的怪獸也是害怕寂寞,需要朋友的啊 !最後男孩和怪獸們一起擁抱著小兔子安心入睡. We were not afraid at all.咦?可是這麼多怪獸和男孩怎麼能擠在床上一起入眠呢?令人會心一笑的答案就在故事裡等你去發現喔.

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