As I prepared our reading plan for American History, it didn’t occur to me that the price of William Bennett’s Children’s Treasury of Virtues might increase. Evidently, it’s out of print, so the price didn’t increase by just a little bit. It went up almost ten-fold! But, as is the nature with Amazon and supply-and-demand, the price has dropped once again.
However, if the price shoots through the roof again, there are other options. First, be sure to check the price-comparison site, BIG WORDS. It searches several websites and returns the lowest price with shipping. {You may also want to search ebay.}
The Children’s Treasury of Virtues is a three-part book that includes Bennett’s earlier individual works aimed at young children:
Our reading plan calls mainly upon reading selections from The Children’s Book of America. So, if the price skyrockets, search for each of the individual works (or just search for the Book of America to have the majority of the readings which correlate with U.S. History).
But… there comes another issue with Bennett’s virtue books. There are multiple versions, and if you’re not careful, you just might purchase one that does not correlate at all with the page numbers or reading selections listed in our reading plan. That’s because there is another, much larger book of virtues that is not necessarily written for young children. It is William Bennett’s The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories.
While some of the reading selections can be found in both The Children’s Treasury of Virtues and The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories (as shown below)…
…most are not. And because I felt responsible when I discovered that someone had accidentally purchased the wrong version, I have created an entirely new reading correlation for those who are studying U.S. History and own the larger volume, The Book of Virtues.
But first, let me offer a concise comparison of these two books.
Treasury of Virtues vs. Book of Virtues
| Treasury of Virtues | Book of Virtues |
| 335 pages | 831 pages |
| Illustrated | Not illustrated |
| Stories are suitable for young children | A few stories are too heartbreaking for young children (and even for an emotional person like me). Also, a word or two from a few of the stories will likely need to be censored when reading aloud to children. (Well, at least they are words we do not say in our home.) |
| Almost 80 stories/poems | Hundreds of stories and poems |
Although the reading selections from The Children’s Book of America are (for the most part) not included in the The Book of Virtues, it does include several stories and poems that relate to American History, as indicated in the reading correlation at the bottom of this post. Another advantage of the larger Book of Virtues volume is the Book of Virtue (BOV) Project, a 900-page printable from Shiver Academy which includes lesson plans with readings from The Book of Virtues, along with corresponding scripture memory verses, copywork, lapbooking, notebooking, and worksheets. (But don’t let the fact that it is a 900-page resource intimidate you. You can pick and choose what you like – maybe a character journal page, discussion questions, copywork pages, and/or lapbook templates for each character unit study.) You can download the BOV Project from Shiver Academy either as one download or in individual units according to virtue. {Click here.} Note: This download is not correlated with the American history reading correlations at the bottom of this post.
Book of Virtues Reading Correlations
In these correlations, I’ve referenced reading selections from the books of virtues for American History, although it is not intended that all of those selections be read each week. Also, not all of the reading selections necessarily correspond with the history topic but are instead loosely correlated based on a certain theme (e.g., geography topic, or another event of that time period, or a poem/virtue that can be tied into the history topic). Also, please note that you may want to edit some words when you come across them in your reading. In my own reading of this text, I came across about five words I would want to edit and then a few sentences I would likely skip when reading aloud to younger children. Some of the readings will not be interesting to primary-aged children, which is another reason for the multiple listings for each topic.
I do not fully endorse everything referenced in The Book of Virtues. While it is a great resource and contains many wonderful, virtuous stories and poems, I do not agree with absolutely everything within its pages.
Also note that our family is not currently reading these selections. I made this correlation specifically for those who have either accidentally purchased the Book of Virtues or who already own this book (or who wish to own it). If you find errors, please let me know. I am very much sleep deprived right now (but rest assured I am thankful for the reasons I’m sleep deprived – I treasure being a mom!).
The correlation for The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories:
Book of Virtues Reading Correlation
The correlation for The Children’s Treasury of Virtues (the illustrated version which is comprised of The Children’s Book of Virtues, The Children’s Book of Heroes, and The Children’s Book of America):
Treasury of Virtues Reading Correlation
A reader of Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood who owns the three individual books that comprise the Children’s Treasury of Virtues has also graciously shared a correlation for those three books that match with the above correlation!
Children’s Book of Virtues, Book of Heroes, and Book of America Reading Correlation