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| | | “The ABCs of Character” gives children lessons in character-building in ways that they can easily understand. (click for larger version) | |
April 16, 2008
Dolores Mitchell-Tulloss has known pain in her life -- the mindless, senseless pain of cruelty to others. But Mitchell-Tulloss channeled that pain to do something positive that resulted in writing a children's book that not only helps them read but learn about character-building.
The book, "ABC's of Character for People Around the World," gives children with each letter of the alphabet a building block for life (Aa is for Awesome: I'm kind and strong; I want to do right; I don't want to do wrong). Brightly illustrated by graphic artist Brian Hardison, the book is designed to instill in youngsters of all ages the values of kindness, courage, patience, persistence and above all love, but translated into the deeds of everyday life.
"From A to Z each page has a message of wisdom, enlightenment and hope. It's not always easy to make wise choices in life. Sometimes it takes a lot of courage to say no to what feels good at the moment," said Mitchell-Tulloss.
Her father was murdered at 33. When her daughter was 24 she was the victim of a carjacking at gunpoint. Those two incidents did much to shape Mitchell-Tulloss' thoughts about what is character, what makes up the building blocks of character.
This was a natural approach for Mitchell-Tulloss since she has degrees in elementary school education and broadcast journalism.
But the "apple falling' inspiration for her to write this book was a fight.
"After I had my 'surprise child" in 1993, we were at a local park one day when two little boys started to fight over a toy. The mothers didn't seem to be concerned, but I felt an immediate need to write something to help parents teach young children to learn to share, be kind, wait to take turns. That sort of thing," she said.
Growing up on a North Carolina farm, raised by strict Baptist grandparents, she said she has always had a strong sense of right and wrong. That was planted at an early age.
So her challenge was to put those values in a book youngsters of any age could understand and relate to.
" Rap music was just coming into vogue at that time, so I knew I wanted the words to be short for easy memory. Now when I go into schools, I can rap or sing the text as students clap and snap their fingers to the beat. They love it and are very engaged," Mitchell-Tulloss said.
The idea is to have any reader think about the words, discuss them and see how they may apply them to real life situations, said Mitchell-Tulloss.
" I vividly remember my grandmother telling me as a child, 'girl don't be no fool.' Those words still stick in my mind some 50 years after she said them and have kept me out of trouble many times," she said. "So the book really draws on experiences from both my child and adulthood, as I've taught my own children from the principles ingrained in it.
"I think of people like Michael Vick, Marion Jones, Roger Clemmons, former Gov. Spitzer of New York and others involved in all kinds of character issues and controversies."
No matter how much success people have, without character they won't truly succeed, she said.
To learn more about Mitchell-Tulloss and her book or to order it ($10.99) go to her Web site at www.characterkidsbooks.com.
- www.northfulton.com
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