Read aloud children's books that describe the types of characters in a dual manner and presents them as definitely good or definitely evil. This strategy is good for very young students, such as preschoolers. Explain to your child why we consider a particular character as positive. Say, for example, that a boy described in a book listens to his parents, loves animals, helps his friends and washes his hands before eating. All the children must be as good as this boy is. On the contrary, his neighbor does not listen to his parents and grandma', does not wash his hands and is always very rude with adults and other children. Always encourage your child to behave as the antagonist.
With children that are slightly older, discuss more realistic types of characters presented in children's books. Usually, people have complicated characters with strong and weak features. As children's books' analyst Aaron Mead points out, perfect and simple characters are not believable. The dominating feature of a character determines personality. Give the examples, when literary characters were lying, were afraid of something or somebody, were ignorant. Stress that although people sometimes behave in such a manner, each person must long for the better behavior. Realistic characters are good for discussing with kids aged from 5 to 7 years old.
For children who are 8 to 10 years old, teach them about transforming types of literary characters. Use magic stories and fairy tales describing transformation and improvement of a hero's character. Choose stories that reveal a character's enhancement. Good examples are Oscar Wilde's "The Star-Child" and Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper." Demonstrate how negative features of the hero's character changes his life for the worse. Show that suffering or an unusual experience may lead to personal improvement.
Compare book characters to those in movie versions. Ask your child which version of the literary character he likes most, that one presented in a book or the same character presented in a film. Encourage your kids to read books, rather than to watch movies or cartoons, because reading develops imagination. Precarious Oscar Wilde hated books with pictures because they blocked his imagination.