Character education has been part of the educational and societal landscape for millennia. Through consensus, school communities teach and model traits that influence the character and moral development of children. Children learn character traits from others--both good and bad--whether that is intended or not. To avoid leaving character education to chance, it behooves schools to actively plan for it by encouraging children's development as moral, decent persons and citizens of the world. In this age of globalization, communication and transportation advances have made the world a seemingly smaller place to live. This adds impetus to energize and expand the traditional focus of character education endeavors to include development of admirable traits for the good of the individual, community, and nation. The concepts of civility, tolerance, and respect as the foci of character education programs have outgrown the borders of individual countries and are now considered vital considerations in living cooperatively in a multicultural and international environment. Educators play a vital role in making this responsibility viable by honing their instruction in ways to build positive character in their students and to broaden character education to encompass a global focus. To accomplish this, a good place to start is at the elementary school level. This article discusses how character education can be integrated for global understanding through the use of children's picture books. (Contains 1 table.)