Like many aspects of writing, teaching kids about character traits becomes a lot easier when you have some quality texts on hand to help you get the job done. If you’re working on character traits in your elementary classroom, these picture books are excellent mentor texts for writing students, as well as helping younger readers learn to make inferences and differentiate between internal and external characteristics.
why is it important to teach character traits?
Learning about character traits is an important part of literacy, but perhaps more than that, character education helps little ones learn to grow as people. By learning to identify the traits that make up a character, children gain perspective and grow in their ability to be empathic.
You are reading: Books that teach character traits
From a curriculum point of view, in the early years, children need to learn the difference between internal traits that are shown through their actions or their dialogue and external traits or physical characteristics. For upper elementary grades, their understanding of character traits should focus more deeply on those inner character traits, and students should be able to develop a narrative in which characters exhibit different traits, as well as being able to identify the ways in which their characters demonstrated those traits.
children’s books to teach character traits
Whether you’re introducing character traits to elementary students or re-introducing the concept to your older kids, here are some of our favorite books to get the job done!
robert munsch’s paper bag princess
From the author of Love Me Forever, The Paper Bag Princess has long been lauded by children’s book lovers for turning the damsel in distress trope on its head. Instead of needing to be rescued, Princess Elizabeth is the one who rescues a rather smug prince. the book is great to have in the classroom for that alone, but it’s also good for discussing character traits with young students so they get used to using positive descriptions of female leads.
Teaching Starter Tip: Use a character trait graphic organizer as a scaffold to help students make inferences about Princess Elizabeth.
a bad case of stripes by david shannon
david camilla cream shannon is very worried about what other students think of her, so worried that she might break out in a bad case of stripes! In addition to opening the door to a social-emotional lesson in forging your own path and not being afraid to walk to the beat of your own drum, a bad case of stripes has a lot to offer when it comes time to talk about inner and outer character. traits. Internally, Camilla is shy and worried. externally, it’s covered in colorful stripes!
Teaching starter tip: You can use a bad case of lines to practice summaries with your students, answering the questions:
- who is the main character?
- what does the main character want?
- what is the problem?
- how do you does the main character feel? try to solve the problem?
- what is the solution to the problem?
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princess truly in i am truly by kelly greenawalt
kelly greenawalt’s princess truly in i am truly is a great text to teach elementary kids about character traits because the main character spends much of the book describing herself and how brave she is and all things what he can do, from dancing on the moon to taming wild lions. With a girl of color at the center, this book is also great for adding character diversity to your classroom library.
Teaching Starter Tip: After reading the book aloud to your class, create an anchor chart with students, describing the inner and outer character traits of truth. she may want to draw a picture of a little girl and draw a zig-zag line right down the middle. on one side she writes “outside (what we see)” and on the other “inside (what we know about the character’s behavior)”.
chrysanthemum by kevin henkes
Kevin Henkes’ book about a little mouse named Chrysanthemum is a popular book to read at the beginning of the school year or on World Kindness Day, but it’s also tailored as a guidance text for teaching children to use descriptive words when writing about a character. the chrysanthemum is kind and brave. classmates who make fun of her for her name are mean and intolerant.
Starting tip for teaching: Use a retelling writing template as a scaffold for students to prepare a narrative about a time someone was kind to them with descriptive language about that person’s character traits. kind person.
strega nona by tomie de paola
The classic tale of strega nona and her nonstop pot of pasta is an old favorite and perfect for teaching character traits (you knew we were going to say that, right?). Students can practice using descriptive language by comparing and contrasting strega nona and big anthony, as well as making predictions and identifying problems and solutions.
no one hugs a carter goodrich cactus
carter goodrich, author of children’s books, captures children and their humor. He was the main character designer for Brave, Ratatouille and Despicable Me, and his book Nobody Hugs a Cactus is a compelling tale of Hank, the prickly cactus who doesn’t loves noise or fuss…or hugs. But in a fabulous example of inner traits, we follow Hank through missed opportunities and reflections when he realizes he could really use friendship.
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Starting Tip for Teaching: Ask students to choose three events in which no one hugs a cactus, draw a picture of each, and then make an inference about how the character feels in the event. event. This character emotions worksheet can be used as a whole class activity or as a stand-alone assignment.
ada twist, scientist by andrea beaty
Written by Andrea Beaty, whose other books made our list of favorite engineering books to share in the classroom, Ada Twist, Science, is a great book to get your elementary students moving into more complex descriptive language. Everyone is curious and interested in science.
Teaching starter tip: Create an anchor chart with your students, brainstorming descriptive words to describe ada’s personality traits.
get up molly lou melon by patty lovell
Molly Lou’s Melon Books by Patty Lovell hits all the sweet spots when it comes to mentoring texts for writing about character traits. as a picture book, they offer rich character descriptions for even older elementary students to discuss about a girl who has “a voice that sounds like a bullfrog being squeezed by a boa constrictor.”
patricia polacco’s junkyard wonders
Based on a real-life event by author Patricia Polacco, The Junkyard Wonders offers a great opportunity to learn something from real life along with reading aloud. before opening the book, rub essences on the students’ hands; you can use smelly markers, lipsticks. There should be at least three or four students with each scent, so they can walk around the room and form small groups based on the same scents. this will all make sense to them once you start reading the book, in which the teacher does the same thing!
use the book as a way to talk about the character traits of the kids in the “vanilla group” at junkyard wonders and then have your smell groups create character trait profiles for the members of your group.
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