If I Were in Charge of the World and Other Worries: Poems for Children and Their Parents

by Judith Viorst, Lynne Cherry (Illustrator)

Overview

If I were in charge of the world I'd cancel oatmeal, Monday mornings, Allergy shots, and also Sara Steinberg. All of us have times when we wish that we were in charge of the world...when we envy girls with ten best friends and gold watches...when we take an eight-block detour to avoid bumping into bullies like Stanley the Fierce...when we question whether princes and princesses really do live happily ever after...when we wonder how grownups ever get to be grown up enough to stop being scared of the dark. This book of poems is for everyone who has ever had trouble apologizing, or loved a cat, or talked too much, or burped. This book of poems is for everyone who could use a little help in turning some of their worries into laughter.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780689308635
Publisher:	Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	08/01/1981
Edition description:	1st edition
Pages:	64
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Judith Viorst is the author of the beloved Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, which has sold some four million copies; the Lulu books, including Lulu and the Brontosaurus; the New York Times bestseller Necessary Losses; four musicals; and poetry for children and adults. Her most recent books of poetry include What Are You Glad About? What Are You Mad About? and Nearing Ninety. She lives in Washington, DC.

Read an Excerpt

FIFTEEN, MAYBE SIXTEEN, THINGS TO WORRY ABOUT

My pants could maybe fall down when I dive off the diving board.

My nose could maybe keep growing and never quit.

Miss Brearly could ask me to spell words like stomach and special.

(Stumick and speshul?)

I could play tag all day and always be "it."

Jay Spievack, who's fourteen feet tall, could want to fight me.

My mom and my dad — like Ted's — could want a divorce.

Miss Brearly could ask me a question about Afghanistan.

(Who's Afghanistan?)

My mother could maybe decide that I needed more liver.

My dad could decide that I needed less TV.

Miss Brearly could say that I have to write in script and stop printing.

Chris could stop being best friends with me.

The world could maybe come to an end on next Tuesday.

The ceiling could maybe come crashing on my head.

I maybe could run out of things for me to worry about.

And then I'd have to do my homework instead.

Copyright © 1981 by Judith Viorst