Happy New Year! 新年快樂!!! 新年讓我們充滿了喜悅、希望、期待的心情。2016你最期待的是甚麼呢? 當我翻到Leo & Diane Dillon的If kids Ran the World 中的 一頁，看到各種不同族裔和宗教信仰的人們，手牽手肩並肩，共享太陽溫暖的光芒，People would have religious freedom and nobody would punish them or call them names......All over the world, people would feel safe with one another. 不禁感嘆! 自從911以來，致命的恐怖攻擊讓全球的人們陷入恐慌驚懼中，這其中牽涉種族和宗教，還有世界強權長期以來利己的制裁，大人的世界何其自私複雜! 因此If kids ran the world，如果由我們小孩來統治世界，People would live in peace. No more hate! Everybody would learn how to forgive.

在If kids ran the world 繪本中，一群不同膚色、長相、性別、個性，各種族裔的孩子，他們決定要在樹屋中開始他們經世濟國的理想。Maybe we'd run the world in a big tree house.他們決定要處理最重要的事，We'd take care of the most important things. 孩子們覺得最重要的事有哪些呢？

1. Help the needed不同角落的人存在不同的需要，有的地方鬧飢荒，糧食生產不足，if kids ran the world, We know people are hungry, so all over the world, everyone would have enough to eat.有的人則是無處可棲身，If kids ran the world, everyone would have a safe place to live. 對生病的人，供給他們所需的藥物 They would have the medicine they needed. 更重要的是心靈的陪伴，Kids would come visit you and let you play with pets.

2. Good Education 學校中充滿有趣有創意的藝術音樂和閱讀課程 All children would go to good schools where every teacher was nice and had lots of books, music and art.學校有好吃的餐點 School would serve yummy meals，有運動場遊樂園Schools would have great sports and big playground.那個孩子不愛去學校呢？

3. Respect Others孩子深知尊重每個人獨特性的重要 People could wear any kind of clothes, and no one would tease them.

4. Environmental Protection 節能減碳和環境保育已經刻不容緩If kids ran the world ,more forests would be planted and protected People would take care of the planet and animals and plants. Nobody would throw trash on the ground or in the ocean or make the air dirty.

這本繪本可以讓大一點的孩子討論What they could do to make the world a better place? 不同的議題可用圖表(graphic organizers)的方式做口語討論或做書寫練習。全書中使用的假設語態也非常適合練習 "If (simple past tense)..., ... (they) would/could...”的句型。

每個大人都曾是孩子，每個孩子也將成為大人。如果我們都不失去孩子原有的初心，包括對人的愛、善意 慷慨、原諒。如繪本說的It’s love, giving it, sharing it showing it.

繪本結尾處WHAT KIDS ARE DOING NOW!更告訴我們全世界孩子們的具體行動!

繪本給了我們一種一切都將會和現在「不同」 的期許。讓我們所有的人願意在2016年給自己一次機會呼應這個期許！If kids ran the world, we’d make it a wonderful place for everyone to live. Grown-ups, too. <書籍介紹 from Scholastic Asia>

(for school only)