Characters With Character: Using Children's Literature in Character Education

by Diane Findlay

A guide for teachers suggests children's trade books as a supplement to character education curricula, including chapters on responsibility, respect, caring, honesty, perserverance, courage, self-discipline, fairness, and friendship.

88 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2001

About the author

Diane is an avid lifelong reader with many interests. She holds a Masters Degree in Library Science from the University of Iowa and worked in public libraries in Utah, Antigua, and Iowa for ten years. She's lived abroad, traveled extensively, worked in international high school student exchange programs, and hosted several international students in her home. As a freelance writer, Diane has written several resource books for teachers and librarians, had a regular article in LibrarySparks magazine, and writes various other curriculum and library resource materials. BEMUSED is her first work of fiction. MEMORIES OF ANTIGUA: BOOKS, BUGS, BICYCLE PUMPS, BEACHES, AND BLESSINGS shares cherished memories of her family's time living in the West Indies.

A country girl at heart, Diane lives in rural Iowa, where she stays active with family, friends, and her Baha'i community, and from which she and her husband travel the world.

Reviews

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love using this book as a guide for teaching kids about positive characteristics. There's a section for responsibility, respect, caring, honesty, perseverance, courage, self-discipline, fairness, friendship, and citizenship. Each section contains a paragraph describing the characteristic with examples of actions that embody that quality (an example is when you feed the dog you are being responsible). Also in each section is a booklist and other resources, each with a small description and appropriate grade level ages that correspond to that resource. Plus (!) in addition there are discussion prompts, science experiments, games and other miscellaneous activities suggested. All of these ideas really tie in together with the character theme and enable a "whole brain" learning experience for kids that will instill these ideals thoroughly. My kindergarten level kids have really gotten involved with the activities and books that I've used based on this book's suggestions and I feel confident in what I'm teaching them since the layout of the book is simple and easy for parents to choose what resources they want to use, and the ones they don't. Highly recommend this book!

[Claire Aiken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Provides extensive lists of children's literature that encompass different character traits.