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2. Books to Build Character © 2000 Nancy Polette 

INTRODUCTION:
The two major universal values regardless of time or place are RESPECT for self, others, property and the environment and RESPONSIBILITY including honesty, trustworthiness, dependability and self-discipline. Trouble for self and others occurs when these values are ignored.
Two men who lived 2000 years apart are known today for their teaching of values.


Aesop, a Greek slave, taught through his fables.
Ghandi, an Indian religious leader taught through his lifestyle and writings. Among these is his well-known list of the Flaws of Mankind.

  1. Life without goals.

  2. Pleasure without conscience

  3. Wealth without work.

  4. Friendship without trust

  5. Promises without fulfillment.

1. Which of Ghandi’s flaws are represented in these fables?

2. WHAT DO YOU VALUE?

In a group, rank order first to last choice of the following qualities Which would be the most to the least important in achieving a life goal?.

knowledge 
passion 
vision 
preparation 
courage 
perseverance 
integrity


ABOUT RESPONSIBILITY


A. Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss, Random, '40
In this tale of faithfulness and responsibility, Mayzie, the lazy bird takes off for a vacation leaving Horton, the elephant, to sit on her nest. Horton sits through the fall and through the ice and snow of winter for “ an elephant’s faithful one hundred per cent.” When spring comes, hunters capture Horton and sell him to a circus, tree, nest and all. While he is on display Mayzie happens to fly by. She stops to chat just as the egg begins to break apart. Now Mayzie wants to claim the offspring . After all, she is its mother. Debate: Who should get the egg?

B. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Ted Dewan. Doubleday, 1998 
The Sorcerer is a brilliant inventor whose work keeps him so busy that he never has time to clean.  So he invents a robot apprentice to solve his clutter problem. But the apprentice left alone in the workshop to vacuum up, has other ideas. What if he were to make his own little helper? And what if, in turn, each helper created HIS own helper?


BOOKS THAT STRESS RESPONSIBILITY


1. Rebel by Allan Baillie. Ticknor & Fields, 1995.
Who is responsible for the attack on the General?
Brainstorm situations in which groups of people accepted 
responsibility for an action.

2. Rose Blanche by Roberto Innocenti. Creative Education, 1985. 
Rose accepts responsibility for helping victims of the Holocaust at the cost of her life. Write about the holocaust using the pattern from Joanne Ryder’s  White Bear, Ice Bear.
One ____ morning your room is ____ and ____. Outside your window you her_____, calling you, changing you until you realize that you are a ___ and live in ____. A ____ hangs around your neck. You are a ____ now. By day you __________
By night you are _____. Silently you _____ and wonder ____But wait! You hear a ____ approaching. Now you sense a familiar smell. You walk toward ____ and feel _____ changing you. You step through the ___ and run inside. Hungry and happy to be home again and _______.

3. Inner City Mother Goose by Eve Merriam. Simon & Schuster, 1996.
“Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the double lock will keep. May no brick through the window break, And no one rob me till I wake.”  See Loretta Krupinski’s New England Scrapbook Harper, 1995. 
Create an Inner City Scrapbook of positive images.

4. House That Crack Built by Clark Taylor. Thompson . Chronicle Books, 1992. 
Is the drug problem a personal or community responsibility? Use the pattern to write a solution to the problem.

5. The Wretched Stone by Chris Van Allsburg. Houghton Mifflin, 1991. 
Debate: Is TV really to blame for society’s ills or is responsible viewing needed?

6. Goose by Molly Bang. Blue Sky Press, 1999.
Is the individual responsible for his/her own success or failure?

7. The Microscope by Maxine Kumin. HarperCollins, 1984. 
Is perseverance always a good trait? Use the pattern to write about another person who accept


BOOKS THAT STRESS RESPECT
8. Aliens in My Nest: Squib Meets the Teen Creature by Larry Shles. Jalmar, 1988.

A teen loses respect for self and family. Elaborate on Squib to show what he might dream of becoming.


9. Appearing Tonight, Mary Heather Elizabeth Livingstone by Oliver Dunrea. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2000. 
A young girl is judged by her appearance rather than her ability.
Research outstanding achievers in which appearance did not play a part. Example: Kate Smith.

10. The World that Jack Built by Ruth Brown. Dutton, 1991. (Respect for the environment)
Activity: Read about one geographical region: ie., mountain, desert, ocean etc. Activity: Suppose Henny Penny found the sky falling with acid rain. Write a play to tell how she would react. 

11. From A Distance by Julie Gold. Dutton, 2000.
Is a protest song one way to awaken people to their responsibilities? Write a protest song about a problem in your community.

12. The Cello of Mr. O. by Jane Cutler. Illus. by Greg Couch. Dutton, 1999. 
Do the elderly deserve the respect of others?

Write a recipe for a city at war.

Large measure extreme shortages
Mix hunger and cold
Add bitter and heavy fighting
With 16 large Yugoslave army tanks
Decorate with orange flash of mortars
Sprinkle with streets littered with bricks and broken glass 
Add Muslims, Serbs and Croats 
Remove hope of escape
Place Bosnia under siege for four years
Serve with grief and tears.