（编者：老约翰绘本馆）
当S.H.E唱着：“我不想我不想不想长大”时，有另外那么一些小小的孩子，他们，是那么地渴望长大。
长高，做城里最漂亮的巨人？
还是，他们有着张爱玲一样的理想：“八岁我要梳爱司头，十岁我要穿高跟鞋，十六岁我可以吃粽子汤团，吃一切难于消化的东西。”(《私语》)？
请看两个渴望长大的小孩阿力和蒂奇的故事。



《你很快就会长高》，是这套书中我最爱给孩子读的一本，因为画面幽默可爱，文字简洁明朗，而故事又极富层次，读起来十分轻松。因为现在书并不在手头，所以具体页数也忘记了，不过耐心给孩子讲来是十分钟左右可以讲完。
阿力是一个渴望长高的男孩，绘本的首页有这样一句话“阿力不喜欢自己的小个子，他很不快乐?，在他的理想中他会想到自己长成一个比大树、长颈鹿还要高的一个大个子（这可能也是每个小男孩的梦想吧），甚至做梦会梦到自己轻易跨过高楼大厦。你的孩子在读的过程中或许会注意到许多你都不曾注意的小细节：比如阿力表情的变化，越来越激动的情绪在画面中可以清楚地看到。阿力问了许多人包括妈妈、爸爸、姐姐和老师“如何才能长高？”的问题，每个人给出的答案并不一样，阿力为了长高一直努力地做着，但最终未见成效，所以阿力仍然不快乐，一直到高个子的叔叔告诉他一些秘诀……书的最后一页，是阿力一个大大的笑脸，底下是每次我和儿子一?高声读出的几个大字——“一个最快乐的男孩！”
阿力没长高，但他变成了一个最快乐的男孩。个子随着年龄的增长会自然增长，而一个快乐的心态却需要亲人的指导和学习。阿力最大的困难不是长高而是如何学会快乐，而这，何尝不是我们许多成人所需要学习的东西？我们追求的太多却忘了最重要的是快乐……



In childhood, being the youngest often means you're the littlest, too. For Titch, it also means getting the smallest bike--a tricycle, actually--while his older brother and sister get the bigger ones. When his siblings receive glorious, wind-dancing kites, Titch gets a dinky little pinwheel. When big brother and sister get to handle grown-up-sized tools, Titch gets to hold the nail. Author Pat Hutchins, winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal for The Wind Blew, shows great compassion for the curse of the youngest, especially in her drawings of Titch's wrinkly, down-turned mouth and his desperate little eyes. In fact, her no-frills illustrations are the perfect reflection of Titch's inescapable plight as the lowest rung on the ladder. In the end, Hutchins presents an opportunity for Titch to be more important and symbolically bigger than either of his siblings. The last born in any family will especially appreciate the littlest one's rising moment of glory--literally--that comes in the satisfying end. (Baby to preschool) --Gail Hudson

Titch is little. Everything he has is little -- his little pinwheel, his little tricycle. He even plays a little whistle. Peep.
　　Pete and Mary are big. Everything they have is bigger than Titch's, and better. Their big bikes go faster. Their big kites fly higher. And their huge instruments are much louder. BANG!
　　But then Titch gets a little seed. And what comes from it is a hundred times bigger then anything Pete and Mary could ever have!

"Titch was little. His sister Mary was a bit bigger. And his brother Pete was a lot bigger. But just as the humblest can be exalted, so the youngest can enjoy a moment of triumph--as the perceptive author demonstrates in a . . . story which blends the economy of text with bright, uncomplicated illustrations".--The Horn Book.