Picture Books for Character Traits - Honesty

Welcome to the first installment of the blog series – Picture Books that Inspire Good Character Traits!

At our school, we call them the Pillars of Virtue, and we have six of them:

Honesty
Courtesy
Courage
Perseverance
Self-Government
Service

Since last year was my first year, I decided to try and find a bunch of books to read throughout the year to attach to these pillars. Most of these books can be used for multiple character traits, so use these posts as a guide.

Each pillar will be in a separate post, but in each post, I will link all of the posts so you can easily find the ones you are looking for!

Today’s Character Trait is Honesty

Kevin – When Sid makes another mess and his mom asks him about it, he makes the quick decision to blame Kevin, the furry yellow and pink friend. He soon finds out that even thought Kevin’s world is make-believe, his feelings are not.

Princess K.I.M – When Kim starts school, she tells everyone she is a princess and she wear a tiara to school and that her grandmother is a queen. Now everyone at school wants to meet a real queen and Kim is faced with what to do with her lie.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf – The tale as old as time…and one that as a parent and a teacher, I have referenced many of times. This is a classic about not joking around about something serious, because when it actually does happen, no one will believe you.

A Bad Case of Stripes – This book works with the trait of Courage as well. I like it when the students can see multiple traits in one book. Camilla Cream LOVES her lima beans but is too afraid to be honest about it, for fear of other’s opinions. Then her world is turned upside down…until she is honest and admits home much she loves lima beans.

The Empty Pot – Oh, gosh. This book is so good. When everyone else is cheating to make themselves look good, but then you do the right thing, even though you don’t think you’ll “get the prize.” And THAT actually gets you the prize. What a great book to show that just because everyone else is doing it, doesn’t mean you have to, too.

Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse – Being honest is hard to do when you think you’re going to get in trouble. But that’s exactly the kind of character trait we want to instill in our children. You can get in a lot less trouble if you’re honest than if you lie and get caught.

The Colour Thief – Zot lives in a land without color. He sees the world with color and thinks it’d be a good idea to steal their color for himself. Such a great lesson about honesty.

A Hen for Izzy Pippik – A story about a girl who finds a hen and instead of giving her back to her owner right away, she decides to keep her and take care of her until the owner comes for her. Then mayhem ensues. This is a great story about doing the right thing.

The Sad Little Fact – This story is about a little fact that can not lie. But no one believes him, and all these “lies” were created and were running around the world sharing their “facts.” But they keep trying and they get back out there and turn the world a little brighter with their true facts.

A Bike Like Sergio’s – Ruben REALLY wants a bike like Sergio’s. So when he finds money that fell out of someone’s purse, he picks it up and puts it in his pocket instead of returning it. But as the story continues, his conscience gets to him about the money.

I hope you have found a few books that will help you with presenting Honesty to your students or children.

Here are all of the posts in the series.