One child saw trees torn from the ground; saw oceans stained with waste, no longer blue and clean; saw skies choking, blocking the sun. One child sighed and cried, "What can I do?"

Read what Chris Cheng, the author of One Child, writes about himself.
Where did he teach that would have had a great influence on the topics of his books?

In his Ideas Page he writes about how he collects and remembers his ideas so he can use them in his writing.
What do you think he might have written down on the day he sang Happy Birthday to the monkeys or drove Santa to the Christmas Carols?
Use your list to create a story for yourself.

Choose one of the pictures from the second half of One Child and create a page of thoughts and notes that Chris might have jotted down for that page as a guide for Steven Woolman to illustrate. It might be easier if you make two lists, one headed Problems and the other, Solutions.

The perfect picture book has the words and pictures so entwined that one would not make sense without the other, and there is a lot of talking between the author and the artist so each shares the other's dream.

Look at One Child really closely.
Would the words have the same impact without the illustrations?
If you saw just the illustrations, would you have been able to work out Christopher Cheng's message?

Now focus on the first few pages of the book and discuss
Why has Steven Woolman drawn the child in that particular style?
Is it a boy or a girl?
Where does the child come from?
How does the choice of making the pictures in the first part of the book blue, contribute to the message?
Why is the child surrounded by those particular toys?

The illustrations in the second part of the book are also distinctive.
Why do you think that Woolman has used a monochrome and 'mosaic' approach?
What effect does having the child in colour portray?

Finally, compare the illustrations in the final section of the book.
How do they offer a sense of unity and hope?

Why not share your thoughts with Chris and Steven. They would love to hear from you.

Look closely at the illustrations to identify the issues that are disturbing the child.

Choose one to investigate more closely and use the pictures to help you develop some questions that you would like answered, including some that will help understand the cause of the problem, its effect and suggest some solutions.

From these, work out some keywords and then use these to search Yahooligans! for sites that will answer your questions.

Create a presentation that will help your peers understand the problem including some websites that will help them discover more if they wish.

Check out your school, street or suburb and pinpoint an environmental issue that needs attention. As a class or a school decide on the project you are going to focus on.

Look at some of the solutions that the child in the book adopted.

*writing letters
*writing songs
*marching
*talking to the world
*taking action

What else could have been done?
You might find some suggestions at one of these sites.
Keeping Our Planet Green

Environmental School Kit

Ranger Rick's Kid's Zone -- National Wildlife Federation

Happy Earth Day Activity Book

Kids F.A.C.E.

U.S. EPA Explorers Club

Develop an action plan that will

*identify the problem and its cause
*raise the awareness of the issue in your school and community
*offer some solutions that students can participate in now
*suggest a way forward to a more permanent solution

Keep a log of the things that you do, copies of letters, photographs and anything else and then watch for an announcement about our special
One Child Webpage where you will be able to show us what you have achieved.

The year 2000 is The Edge of Tomorrow.
What will your tomorrow be like?

Imagine .....