The Book Of Virtues

I am talking about this book, not the Children's Book of Virtues which is smaller. I just wanted to be clear on that because since the titles are so similar they are easily confused.

This 832 page book contains chapters of literature and poems that deal with 10 virtues: self-discipline, compassion, responsibility, friendship, work, courage, perseverance, honesty, loyalty and faith. Sounds all neat and tidy, doesn't it?

While I have been contemplating which books to buy to bring a little more Charlotte Mason into our readings, I glanced through this book and noticed Andrew Lang's name and James Baldwin. If you're not familiar with Andrew Lang, he wrote the Red Fairy Book, Blue Fairy Book, Yellow Fairy Book and so on. James Baldwin is the author of Fifty Famous People among other books.

The stories in The Book of Virtues are short and perfect for read-aloud but I wanted to see if there was a schedule somewhere that aligned this book chronologically to be read alongside history. There is one site that has done this to a certain extent, Reading Your Way Through History. These stories within The Book of Virtues are just that, at times it is only a section of a longer story that highlights the virtue of the chapter.

Just to give a sampling of what can be found in The Book of Virtues, here's a listing of titles and authors in the first chapter, Self-Discipline.

• Good and Bad Children by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Please by Alicia Aspinwall
• Rebecca (Who Slammed Doors for Fun and Perished Miserably.) by Hilaire Belloc
• Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore by William Brighty Rands
• The Lovable Child by Emilie Poulsson
• John, Tom and James by Anonymous
• There Was A Little Girl by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• My Own Self by Joseph Jacobs
• To the Little Girl Who Wiggles by Laura E. Richards
• Jim (Who ran away from his Nurse, and was eaten by a Lion.) by Hilaire Belloc
• The Duel by Eugene Field
• Let Dogs Delight to Bark and Bite by Isaac Watts
• The King and His Hawk by James Baldwin
• Anger by Charles and Mary Lamb
• Dirty Jim by Jane Taylor
• Washing by Anonymous
• Table Rules for Little Folks by Anonymous
• The Little Gentlemen by Anonymous
• Our Lips and Ears
• Little Fred
• The Story of Augustus, Who Would Not Have Any Soup by Heinrich Hoffman
• The Vulture by Hilaire Belloc
• The Boy and The Nuts by Aesop
• The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs by Aesop
• The Flies and the Honey Pitt by Aesop
• Mr. Vinegar and His Fortune by James Baldwin
• and many more...

I suggest taking your own look at this book through your library or pulling it down off your bookshelf and reading a little. This is great for 2nd grade and up, of course you may want to pre-read the selections if you have a sensitive child. I forsee this book being used time and time again in our homeschool. I'm planning on using this as read-aloud using the Reading Through History information and for character study as we study history.