Are you looking for a fun way to teach your child the character traits of honesty, perseverance, and industriousness? Do your children love reading or being read to? Basil; Or, Honesty and Industry by Charlotte O’Brien is a great book from Lamplighters Publishing that would help your child learn these traits while enjoying a great story!

This book, like the other books from Lamplighters Publishing is a reproduction of the original that was written around 1856. The story itself is written almost exactly as it would have been in the 1800s, with little alterations. While this may seem hard to read and/or understand at first, by the time you are done with this wonderful book, you will not notice the writing at all!

We follow Basil as he learns about prayer. He is a poor boy with a rough home life. His mother was too busy with the children and for learning about religion. A few kind words given to Basil from Squire Hamilton—”to pray to God to act honestly and industriously in whatever situation”—give Basil just what he needs. These kind words start a journey for Basil that all people should go on.

The kind words of Squire Hamilton lead Basil to look at life differently. He now feels guilty of doing dishonest things and kneels down for his first prayer. From there, he strives to do things the honest way, and by doing this, we see him grow. He finds things available for him to work hard and earn things honestly. Each of these comes with a new lesson to help him grow more. By his small changes, we also see changes in those around him.

My kids loved gathering around as I read this out loud to them. We learned a lot about the character traits and loved the journey that Basil allowed us to follow him on. While we noticed the changes in those around Basil, I also noticed changes in our house as well. I never would have thought to use books like this as character-building material, but I would never go back now that we have experienced the joy of learning that Lamplighter Publishing has shown us in these fine stories!

—Product review by Amanda Hopkins, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, July 2017