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

There are some wonderful poems in this collection. Many, of course, are about the worries, annoyances, grievances, heartbreaks and losses of childhood. Some focus on envy, competitiveness, and self image. There are also lovely poems that address—among other things—pet cats, good friends, and the smell of early springtime.

I particularly liked the “Fairy Tales” section of the book in which Viorst has well-known heroines address, in the first person, the reality of their situations. When the prince who’s searching for the owner of the glass slipper visits Cinderella, for example, she has reservations:

I really didn’t notice that he had a funny nose.
And he certainly looked better all dressed up in fancy clothes.
He’s not show more nearly as attractive as he seemed the other night.
So I think I’ll just pretend that this glass slipper feels too tight.

As for the Little Mermaid—she poignantly reflects and regrets:

I risked more than my life to make him love me.
The prince preferred another for his bride.
I always hate the ending to this story:
They lived together happily; I died.

But I have some advice for modern mermaids
Who wish to save great sorrow and travail:
Don’t give up who you are for love of princes.
He might have liked me better with my tail.

While some of Viorst’s cultural references are now dated, there’s still much emotionally relatable and humorous content in this poetry collection for kids. Recommended. show less

Judith Viorst knows children. She knows their hopes, their dreams, their hates, their loves, their frustrations and their joys. Viorst's audience is both parents and children alike - and these poems are fun, thoughtful, insightful and be sure to motivate kids to brush their teeth, put on their jammies and hop under the covers. These poems are so much fun to read, don't be surprised to see parents hopping into bed with their children - or keeping the book for themselves. Living in a scary modern world, this collection of poems is like adding sugar to bad-tasting medicine - it helps ease worries - again, for both parent and child. It really does. However, I am a little confused - if I were in charge of the world, I wouldn't cancel oatmeal show more - I'd just make it taste better! Lavishly illustrated by Lynne Cherry, this book of poems will become a staple read at bedtime. Highly recommended. show less

What would you do if you were in charge of the world? That’s a hard question to answer even as an adult, but Judith Viorst’s book. If I Were in Charge of the World and other Worries is a fantastic collection that has a poem about a child’s answer to that question and many other poems that relate to children today with topics like love, animals and social interactions.

Conceptually this book is a wonderful representation of poetry. Children experience a wide range of issues as they grow up, and these poems cover a few of them, such as animals, secrets, love and fun times. In a classroom, there will be children from all walks of life, and to have a multicultural, multi-concept poetry collection is important. For poetry to appeal to show more all children, it has to cover what they find interesting. This collection has poems to interest most.

The language in this book uses metaphors and imagery. It is important for the imagery to be in this book because not all of the poems have illustrations with them. The use of imagery allows students to get the mental image of the poem without having that visual aide.

The Illustrations in this book are few but magnificent. The use of black and white is a wonderful statement on how the words should be the focus and the illustration a mere enhancer to the final project. Colors can be distracting, and when the subjects are serious, such as the ones in the poem, “I’m Not," vibrant and overused color could seriously detract from the message that Viorst was trying to convey. show less

Author of Alexander,and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Judith Viorst does not disappoint with her collection of hilarious poems to help children and parents understand some of the trials and tribulations children face while trying to grow up. Lynn Cherry's black and white illustrations compliment Viorsts popular poems, such as If I Were in Charge of the World, Fifteen, Maybe Sixteen Things I Could Worry About, and I Wouldn't be Afraid.

This book is a wonderful one to incorporate into the classroom. It uses poetry with repetition and rhyme to encourage readers who may be struggling. It will keep the interest of all ages and when read with expression would be a great read aloud. The poems center around aspects that young children might worry or be concerned about and ties in a feeling of comic relief so that children understand it is okay to feel this way, yet also that it needs to be dealt with and solved. This would be a great book to use when talking about feelings and how to handle those specific emotions.

This is a book of poetry that deals with worries, and feelings that are dealt with. Humor is used throughout the poems to deal with these themes. Most of the poems contain a rhyming pattern. Imagery is used to create the mood in the poems. This book is divided into different sections of poems to help readers find topics of poems that relate to them. A index is also provided at the end of the book to help readers find the pages certain poems are on.
These poems relate to myself due to the theme of common worries my friends, and family, along with my self have experienced.
I would use this book to extend my classroom knowledge to discuss different worries, and feelings we all have. Another good extension idea would be to have the class show more write a poem together using one of these common worries, or feelings we might all possible have at some time. show less

banal rubbish to be avoided at all cost