Title: A Call for Character
Author: Cynthia Gadson
Illustrator: Maurice Lindsey
Publisher: Cynthia Gadson
ISBN: 78-1-64908-883-3
Pages: 26
Genre: Illustrated Children’s Book / Educational
Reviewed by: Beth Adams
Hollywood Book Reviews
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” This famously declared quote by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is known by many, as A Call for Character expands and exemplifies his philosophy and shows readers the qualities of love and kindness.
Author Cynthia Gadson has created a very educational book for youngsters to read which acquaints character traits of good, love and honor against those bad traits, such as anger and violence, just to name a few. The author cleverly merges themes and literary techniques to drill-in these lessons to the developing minds of readers. For example, all of the cast of characters have a trait preceding their names: Accountable Anteater vs. Angry Anteater; Kind Koala vs. Killer Koala; and Courageous Cougar vs. Cowardly Cougar. Here, children are shown the dichotomized groups of animals which are good vs. those with malintent. Another aspect of education is creating a good world called Love Land vs. a bad world LaLa Land. The event of a circus coming to town brings all the cast of characters together in a town-meeting type of situation where they each state their intentions. Even proper grammar is shown, such as “Whatcha doing?” is corrected by “What are you doing?”
A Call for Character has many elements creating truly educational machinations guised as a personified animal story. It includes a glossary of definitions for each of the character traits lending itself to unambiguous understanding for readers to cement their vocabulary, plus some open-ended questions for parents to share with their children beginning discussions of the subject.
Children love to learn, and having A Call for Character on their bookshelf will allow them to review, time and time again, these very important lessons. Author Cynthia Gadson, along with the artfully drawn illustrations, has created a book which will educate as it entertains its readers, and when you think of it, that’s the best way to have children learn about our wonderful world.