HIT: Books about loyalty

[Maureen Pelensky <pelensky@TELUSPLANET.NET>]

Thank so so much to everyone who responded to my plea:

Hi everybody - we do a character ed thing at our school and I have been able
to find lots of titles for our values of the month like patience, respect,
etc.  However, the value for Feb. is loyalty and I'm plumb out of ideas.
I'm sure there are plenty of books in which a character stays loyal to a
friend or true to his values.  Does anyone know of any picture books or
folktales that illustrate this value?  If you do, I'd appreciate the
inspiration and will happily post a hit!

As promised, here is the HIT!


The one that immediately came to mind was Horton Hatches an Egg by Dr.
Seuss, in which mother bird, lazy Mazie, leaves poor Horton sitting on her
egg "for a little while."  Seasons pass and Horton sits through terrible
discomforts but will not abandon his responsibility to guard the egg because
"an elephant's faithful, 100%."
    I hope this helps.  Kids love this book.

Books for loyalty to values:
Dr. De Soto, by William Steig
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, by William Steig
Miss Rumphius, Barbara Cooney
Little Red Hen, Paul Galdone
Huge Harold, by Bill Peet
King Bidgood's in the Bathtub, by Audrey Wood

The first on that comes to my mind is:  Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco.
It is about a friendship between a black boy and white boy in the American
civil war.  It's a beautiful story.

Have recently been using the book, Grandfather Tang's Story by Ann
Tompert.  Not only is it a Chinese folktale (used it to honor Chinese
New Year last week)that deals with friendship and loyalty, it is a story
told with tangrams.  I know these are often used in math centers to
promote and practice perceptual thinking, but I like the idea that the
story doesn't have to have "a math connection."

Oryx Press has a book titled *Using Picture Storybooks to Teach Character
Education.*  ISBN 1-57356-349-8
Here are a few of the books they list:
*Goose* By Molly Bang
*Madelines's Rescue by Ludwig Bemelmans
*I Have an Olive Tree*  by Eve Bunting
*The Rooster's Gift*  by Pam Conrad
*Red Bird*  by Barbara Mitchell

I loved the Mightiest Heart.

The Faithful Friend by SanSouci (this is a folktale),  Lassie Come
Home - the picture book version by Wells.  The chapter books that came up
when I typed in loyalty were Amy's Promise and Janey's Choice by Hunter,
Wind in the Willows, Race by Matas and A Question of Loyalty by Greenwood.

Viorst's Rosie & Michael?

I'm not sure what grade level you are looking for.  Rosemary Sutcliff's
historical novels set in Rome, Roman Britain and pre-Roman Britain deal
with loyalty to self, kings, countries and friends.  5th grade and up.

Maureen Pelensky
Teacher-librarian
Minchau School
Edmonton, AB, Canada
pelensky@telusplanet.net

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