《小家伙們》

陳佳

Caldecott1 Honor-winning author and illustrator Vera Brosgols new picture book， The Little Guys， charms with a story of a band of acorn-hatted creatures， a gang of inscrutable2 little guys who live on a small island. Tiny but strong， they are clever and fearless. Using their numbers and their tight teamwork， they ford deep streams， cross dark forests， climb tall trees， lift heavy logs， dig deep burrows and even jump on the belly of a big brown bear. They do this all to find food for the little guys. But one day， while hunting for their breakfast， they get carried away with their success and leave chaos in their wake.

Soon they have bullied3 all the residents of the forest and collected a tower of food. All the food is for them. There is nothing for anyone else. The little guys quite literally have everything—everything except one grape in the beak of a small red bird. When the little guys create a tower to grab it， the tower sways and they all fall into the water. The little guys float along and finally climb out， but only with the help of the forest creatures whose food theyve taken.

This incident wakes the little guys to the realization that they already have all they need. Together they are strong， they say， as they deliver the grape back to the small red bird. Brosgols story filled with bright， cartoonish illustrations will delight young readers and spur discussion about teamwork， greed and even the politics of power.

凱迪克大獎獲獎作家、插畫家維拉·布羅斯哥的新書《小家伙們》，講述了一群戴橡子帽、生活在小島上的神秘小家伙們的故事。它們小而強(qiáng)壯，聰明且無畏。利用人數(shù)和緊密的團(tuán)隊(duì)合作，他們跋山涉水，穿過黑暗的森林，爬上高大的樹木，舉起沉重的原木，挖深洞穴，甚至在一只大棕熊的肚子上蹦跳。他們這么做是為了給他們的小家伙們找點(diǎn)吃的。但有一天，他們在尋找早餐時(shí)，因成功而忘乎所以，在身后留下一片混亂。

很快，他們就威嚇到了森林里的所有居民，并收集到了一堆食物。所有的食物都是他們的，其他動物們什么都沒有。從字面意義來看，這些小家伙們什么都有——除了小紅鳥嘴里的一顆葡萄以外。當(dāng)小家伙們建造一座塔去抓它時(shí)，塔左右搖晃，他們都掉到了水里。小家伙們漂在水面，最后在被他們搶走食物的森林動物們的幫助下，他們才爬了出來。

這件事使小家伙們意識到他們已經(jīng)擁有了所需要的一切。當(dāng)他們把葡萄送回給小紅鳥的時(shí)候，他們說，他們在一起才會變得強(qiáng)大。布羅斯哥的故事滿是鮮艷的卡通插圖，這會讓小讀者們感到高興，并激發(fā)他們關(guān)于團(tuán)隊(duì)合作、貪婪，甚至權(quán)力政治的討論。