Building Character | Children's Books Heal

What’s Under Your Cape: Superheroes of the Character Kind

Barbara Gruener, Author

Ferne Press, Nonfiction, May 2014

Suitable for: Elementary Teachers, Counselors, Parents

Theme: Character Education, Elementary Students, Teachers, Character Traits

Winner: Mom’s Choice Gold Award for Adult Books

Cover Synopsis: What if students in your classroom could excel in academics and character education? What kind of impact would they make on the world? Through stories and activities, learn how Barbara Gruener uses the word SUPERHEROES to define positive character traits. This powerful handbook will change the way you look at character education.

Why I like this book: Barbara Gruener’s work with character began when she was a girl active in 4-H. She learned a pledge which she took to heart. “I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to great loyalty, my hands to larger service, and my health to better living.” It molded her own character and became the core tools she used to help students find their own strengths and superpowers. She has written an inspiring and powerful book that will motivate educators, counselors and parents to want to teach character education to children. This practical and user-friendly guide is brimming with ideas, projects, hands-on activities, games, stories, and songs. Barbara says “SUPERHEROES are all about service.” Her material can be used with any age group. If character development is included in every school in America, just think how different our world would be. These superheroes will be our future leaders and bring change. Teaching character development from a young age could lead to a major paradigm shift in our schools, homes, communities and world. This is a must-have guide for educators and parents.

Barbara Gruener is a counselor and character coach at Westwood-Bales Elementary, a National School of Character. With 30 years of teaching and counseling children K-12, she’s believes that we must begin implementing character development among children at a very early age. Make sure you visit Barbara Gruener at her popular website Corner on Character.

Book Giveaway: I will be giving away one copy of What’s Under Your Cape. If you’d like a copy, please leave a comment by Sunday, September 21, and let me know that you’d like to be entered in the giveaway. I will announce the lucky winner onWednesday, September 24.

I stumbled upon two very similar books based on a concept I admit I was not familiar with, bucketfilling, designed to help parents and teachers focus on building character in pre-school and elementary school children. I did further research and discovered that there is a programs for teachers to use the concept in their classrooms — and there are examples of how it is being used in schools. Since I just wrote a post July 5 on The Family Virtue Guide, I thought this would be a nice companion. It essentially works with many virtues/values we hope to instill in children. This is a great school project!

Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids, is written by Carol McCloud and illustrated by David Messing for pre-schoolers to age 8 years. Actually the author says that filling the bucket begins at birth when parents love, hold, touch, care, play, and read to their children. You are filling an invisible bucket for your child as well as your own. As children grow, it is important that they are also taught to love, be kind, helpful, unselfish and respectful of others. McCloud wrote this book and designed a program to teach the daily practice of bucketfilling. David Messing’s illustrations are colorful, bold and captivating and support the message. The characters are multi-cultural and have disabilities. There also is a companion guide for young children, Fill a Bucket.

This book visually conveys a very simple but profound message children will understand — and it’s fun because the illustrations speak to you! Everyday people from all over the world, walk around carrying an invisible bucket. You can’t see it, but it’s there. That means children, parents, siblings, grandparents, friends, neighbors, classmates and people you don’t even know, all have an invisible bucket. There is only one purpose for the bucket — to hold your good thoughts and feelings about yourself. You fill your bucket when you are kind to someone, smile, give someone a hug, listen when they are sad, run an errand or say hello to a stranger. You fill someone else’s bucket, but you also fill your own bucket. When you feel sad, upset and lonely your bucket is empty. It also can be empty when you are mean or hurtful to someone. That’s called “bucket dipping.” Then everyone’s bucket is empty. But, when you are a bucket filler, you make your home, school, community and world a better place to be.

How Full is Your Bucket? For Kids, is written by Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer, Ph.D. and illustrated by Maurie J. Manning. Rath co-wrote the book with the late Dr. Donald O. Clifton, who has shared his “bucket” story since the 1960s. The original book was an adult non-fiction, which became the basis for this children’s story book. Reckmeyer is Executive Director of the Donald O. Clifton Child Development Center for 25 years, and has helped thousands of kids build lives around their strengths. The authors have written this book in story form.

Felix is building a block tower and his persistent little sister wants to help. He repeatedly tells her NO! Fed up, feisty Anna grabs her doll and takes a big whack at the tower and it tumbles. Felix yells for Grandpa, who begins to tell Felix about the invisible buckets that everyone has over their heads. He tells Felix he just emptied his sister’s bucket with his actions. The next morning Felix wakes up and sees a small bucket floating above his head. The bucket is full and as he goes through his day, he begins to see how his interactions with other kids, empty and fill his bucket, drop by drop. He wonders what it feels like when you have an empty bucket. Once he learns how easy it is to be helpful to his classmates and his sister, he is excited and happy. As Felix realizes that every drop he helped put into someone else’s bucket, he felt a drop in his own bucket.