In a time when many pupils feel a lack of security in school, the demands on teachers steadily increase as society puts pressure on them and the school system as a whole. The idea for this essay was born out of a need to create tools for teachers to use while working with the set values that the Swedish curriculum deems central to education.

In order to create such a tool, a survey was made to ascertain what books are currently popular among Swedish children in the age range of 9-12, and then, using indirect characterization and the literary concepts of theme and motif as method, the goal has been to determine whether this book is suitable for working with questions that are related to the aforementioned values.

To that end, the following questions were asked:

• Which books are popular in the age range of 9-12 at the time of this essay’s writing?

• Which motifs can be found in the book based on values as a theme?

• How are the values that the school system should mediate portrayed in these motifs?

The results showed that the chosen book, PAX: Nidstången (by Åsa Larsson & Ingela Korsell), contained all of the five values that the Swedish curriculum deems central to education. The results, then, indicate that this book is a suitable tool to include while working with values in the classroom. However, the effectiveness of this tool is also dependent on the teacher him/herself, since a tool’s value is only ever as high as the competence of the one who uses it.