Choose storybooks that fit the standards of character-building within an appealing format. Picture books, easy-readers, and folktales present moral stories in an accessible way. Consider familiar nursery stories to read.
Include multicultural nonsense stories to read. Many multicultural stories include lovable teachable characters such as the West African spider Ananse, or the Puerto Rican blunderbuss, Juan Bobo. Aesop's Fables, and Grimm's Brother's stories are popular moral-teaching stories.
Bring the stories to life with an animated reading style. Read the stories with different character voices. Establish a variety of inflections to help children identify and distinguish protagonists (good characters) protagonists from the (bad characters) antagonists.
Use simple props along with reading the story to further emphasize the morals. For example, in the biblical book and story of Queen Esther, Haman is explained as an evil adviser to the King. The biblical account continues with Haman secretly trying to harm the Jewish people. Children are given loud rattling instruments (groggers) to shake in protest when Haman's name is read aloud.
Stop the story at key or climatic points for dramatic effect. Allow the children to process what they have heard and form hypotheses or conclusions.
Interject short questions to ensure the children are following the story. Keep the question and answer period brief to move the narrative plot along and keep the momentum.