The Book of Virtues for Young People: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories ANNOTATION
Well-known works including fables, folklore, fiction, drama, and more, by such authors as Aesop, Dickens, Tolstoy, Shakespeare, and Baldwin, are presented to teach virtues, including compassion, courage, honesty, friendship, and faith.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Stories from the best-selling The Book of Virtues for a younger audience
The Book of Virtues for Young People is a treasury of timeless stories, poems, and fables selected from William J. Bennett's national best-seller, The Book of Virtues, that teaches young people the importance of incorporating virtues in one's daily life.
The collection, which also includes new material, offers tales of self-discipline from Aesop; poems by Walt Whitman, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Frost, and Emily Dickinson; and fiction by O. Henry, Tolstoy, and Guy de Maupassant. Also included are stories of personal courage and biographies of great people such as Rosa Parks, Abraham Lincoln, and Anne Frank. Like The Book of Virtues, this collection focuses on ten core virtues, from courage and compassion to hard work and self-discipline.
The perfect gift for graduation or other special occasions, The Book of Virtues for Young People belongs on every young person's bookshelf.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Having scored a resounding success with The Book of Virtues (more than 2.2 million copies sold), erstwhile politico William J. Bennett now turns his attention to what his publisher deems the ``growing demand for character education'' with The Book of Virtues for Young People: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories; included under such headings as Self-Discipline, Responsibility and Loyalty are works by the likes of James Baldwin, Emily Dickinson, Victor Hugo and Thomas Bulfinch (S&S/Silver Burdett, $14.95, ages 7-12 ISBN 0-382-24923-2 July).
Children's Literature - Jolene Ivey
An easy-to-assemble 3-D viewer is included in this fact-filled book on the planets, space travel, and our future in space. Big, clear illustrations make the detailed text more accessible to a wider age group. Future space travelers will enjoy getting their first multi-dimensional look at space through this fun and educational book.
Children's Literature - Donna Freedman
This weighty book works for just about any age, since it contains classic stories, poems and essays of varying degrees of difficulty. Parents can use The Book of Virtues for Young People to introduce the concepts of perseverance, compassion, courage, work, faith, honesty, loyalty, self-discipline, responsibility, and friendship, and then encourage stimulating discussions about these traits. Give it a try-your children may surprise you.
The ALAN Review - Mike Angelotti
The full title tells it all - The Book of VIRTUES for Young People: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories, edited with commentary by William J. Bennett. Rewritten and adapted stories and poems are drawn from the ages and focus on ten virtues, including self-discipline, compassion, work, honesty, and faith. According to the introduction, the book will help the reader find the answers to three questions: "What are virtues? Why do you need them? How do you get them?" The book includes Aesop's fables, Bible stories, myths, other stories, and poems. With stories centered on African-American, Native American, and other ethnic and cultural experiences, there is a clear attempt to address the diversity of American youth. Content also appears to have been written and selected to provide access at the middle-school reading level. All in all, there are some stories that could be of interest to young people and provide a point of departure for values clarification and personal writing.
VOYA - Susan R. Farber
Save your money. I do not know a single self-serving teen or pre-teen who would voluntarily pick up this book. It will probably be purchased by hoards of well-meaning grandparents and foisted upon reluctant but polite adolescents who will let it gather dust in some forgotten corner. Those who venture to crack open the cover will find fables, poems, stories, and essays from classic and contemporary authors on the themes of self-discipline, compassion, responsibility, friendship, work, courage, perseverance, honesty, loyalty, and faith. All admirable qualities to be sure, and covered thoroughly in Bennett's other compilations of similar books: The Children's Book of Virtues [Simon & Schuster, 1995] and The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories [Simon & Schuster, 1993]), but the strong, didactic tone sounds a death knell for another important quality urgently and equally needed in character development: pleasure. Index. Illus. Biblio. VOYA Codes: 2Q 1P J S (Better editing or work by the author might have warranted a 3Q, No YA will read unless forced to for assignments, Junior High-defined as grades 7 to 9 and Senior High-defined as grades 10 to 12).
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