ValueTales

ValueTales refers to a series of simple biographical children's books published by the now-defunct Value Communications, Inc. in La Jolla, California written by Spencer Johnson, M.D. and Ann Donegan Johnson and illustrated by Stephen Pileggi . They were published in the late 1970s and early 1980s and are now completely out of print.

Each book gave a simplified biography of a historical figure as an allegory, illustrating the value of a positive characteristic. Each volume was a white pictorial glossy hardback book around 60 pages long with a brightly colored cartoon of the figure, along with some anthropomorphic item or animal that would narrate the subject's life throughout the book. The title of each book would be The Value of x: The story of y , where x is the characteristic being exemplified and y is the subject (i.e. The Value of Determination: The Story of Helen Keller).

The books were quite popular in elementary school libraries, pediatrics offices, and sunday schools, particularly in California.

Books