Stories that Talk forms part of a multi media campaign in South Africa called Heartlines which aims to create national awareness on human values. Click here for more information on Heartines.

The book contains a collection of 10 read-aloud stories which highlight certain values such as forgiveness, acceptance, self control, hope and honesty. It is written to be read aloud to young children aged three to eight years but older children may also find the stories interesting to discuss. The stories are all told by different authors and illustrated by different artists and cover a range of genres, some are based in reality others are animal fables. According to the publishers this book is written for anyone who looks after children - parents and caregivers, guardians, grandparents, teachers, foster parents and older siblings.

The book is based on the fact that thinking through values helps young people to make decisions about their health, their friendships and even their sexuality in a way that will protect them rather than place them at risk. The book aims to help increase the chances for children to see, learn and internalise the range of values that are important. This is done by encouraging children to talk about values and the publishers hope that this book will be a tool to help caregivers in the challenging task of talking about values with children.

Each story explores a different value in a way that young children will relate to. The stories are interspersed with pages for caregivers that include discussion questions and information on how to develop the particular value explored in the story in young children. The book also contains some general information about teaching values to children.

To order the book call: 0861 44 22 88, the book costs R20.00 including postage. For out-of-South-Africa orders, postage will be calculated according to destination.