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Service-Learning, Character Education, Picture Books and Early Literacy
by Eric Hartman

The importance of literacy, respect for the law, conservation and ethical treatment of animals are issues that are broached in the following seemingly simple and engaging picture books for 4 – 10 year olds. The stories offer an opportunity to integrate reading lessons and service efforts for children.

Students who are helping in a local park, beautifying school grounds or growing vegetables for a local food pantry will find a related environmental ethic in Molly Garrett Bang’s Common Ground: The Water, Earth, and Air We Share. Bang’s book, which is recommended for 7 – 10 year olds, focuses on a classic story involving public goods. In the story, villagers choose to bring their sheep to the commons to graze, but through overgrazing, the commons becomes bare! This simple tale emphasizes that we all share some limited resources and must act accordingly. Artfully and expertly, Bang pulls the reader from the village commons to the global scale, pushing children to consider serious environmental questions without losing their interest. Click Clack Moo: Cows that Type is an imaginative tail targeted at 4 – 8 year olds that involves the importance of literacy, the unionization process and compromise! Betsy Lewin’s illustrations and Doreen Cronin’s creative text made this book an obvious choice for the Caldecott honor it received.

In a clear effort to inspire a civic ethic in young children, Carl Sommer and Dick Westbrook’s Mayor for a Day demonstrates what might happen without any rules at all! Fortunately for the protagonist, Davy, and for the town, order is restored before things get too out of hand. Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback combines a delightful story with important lessons of conservation and frugality. The book is a treat for young and old, as teachers and parents will catch jokes and allusions throughout (A newspaper on a floor reads, “Fiddler on Roof Falls Off Roof”).

Even humane treatment of animals is addressed through picture books, as in Robert C. O’Brien’s Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh. Illustrated by Zena Bernstein, Mrs. Frisby’s experiences would connect well with service-learning projects with the SPCA or Humane Society.

International renowned picture book experts Kenneth and Sylvia Marantz, who presented on the subject at the PSLA’s 2002 Character Education and Service-Learning conference, have written and presented extensively on picture books and character development. An article they wrote on expanding children’s understanding of diverse cultures is available through the American Library Association at www.ala.org/BookLinks/v09/curtains.html. In service projects that involve diverse communities or introduce students to unfamiliar cultures, carefully constructed books can introduce students to new traditions in a comfortable and accessible way. Whatever the issue, picture books offer an excellent opportunity to combine literacy skills, service-learning, character development and a great deal of fun!