This study was conducted to determine the appropriateness and potential of a set of books as a resource for infusing character education in a social studies classroom. Based on a research review, the literature chosen was the past decade (2001–2011) of Newbery-Award winning books. As recipients of perhaps the most prestigious award for children's literature, Newbery books were of exceptional quality and widely available. Narrative analysis ( Neuendorf, 2002 ) allowed us to explore their suitability for character education. The Josepheson Institute's character pillars, the Katz and Braly List of Verbal Stereotypes, identification of moral dilemmas in these stories, and factors of race, gender, and disability provided tools for coding elements as part of the narrative-analysis methodology. Additional literacy and social studies activities were developed to enhance peer interaction, a component determined essential to future programs ( Berkowitz & Bier, 2005 ). Ultimately these 10 books were deemed viable tools for addressing character education. The authors found a key benefit of our process to be the messy self-examination, the inward look at one's own values, beliefs, and behaviors, and the subsequent interaction and collaboration that either validated or challenged those beliefs.

In 1988, John Michael Atherton observed: "The virtues have fallen out of favor in curricular theory on and practice in moral education" (Atherton, 1988, p. 299.) Over the past quarter century, however, there has been a dramatic change in how virtue is regarded. Education writers and philosophers, social commentators and politicians, have all helped to create a vast, new literature on virtue and the related concept "character." Further, an historical mission of schools-to promote the development of "good character" among youth-has been restored, at least in theory, through legislation such as the No Child Left Behind Act, which mandates character education. Today, "character" is strongly associated with what are regarded as distinctly moral virtues. Often overlooked is the fact that Aristotle was concerned with the development of both moral and intellectual virtues. This is a serious oversight, both conceptually and practically. Conceptually, for Aristotle and the ancient Greeks more broadly, there was not a bright dividing line between moral and non-or amoral phenomena; moral and intellectual virtues inform one another to influence all sorts of conduct, some of which we moderns would regard as belonging to the "moral" sphere and some not. And practically, human flourishing-the raison d'être for virtues-requires both qualities. The central aim of this essay is to illuminate some of the contributions of Newbery Award winning books published from 2000 through 2010 to the development of intellectual virtue. The Newbery Award is named for the 18th-century English book