This study was concerned with the presentation of character in children's books set in the southeastern United States. Thirty-six books of realistic fiction, recommended by authors of six college-level children's textbooks, were analyzed in terms of characters and methods of characterization. Among the findings of the study were the following: (1) there appears to be a stereotyped southern character; (2) 70 percent of the characters were members of economically deprived families; (3) settings were predominately rural or isolated areas; (4) less than half of the children lived with their own parents--economic difficulties usually given as the reason; (5) children in these books spent much of their time with adults doing hard work; and (6) 67 percent of the characters spoke a dialect which indicated a lack of education. The study suggested that elements of characterization in these books may cause readers to repress identification with the main character and that comprehension may be affected by the dialectal pattern used in many of the books. (Author/LL)