The government intensively implements character education because of the current condition of the young generation which is very concerning with the many cases of criminal acts committed by children. One effort that can be done to instill character education is through literary learning in schools. Schools need to provide quality reading material that contains character values. This study aims to find out the character values contained in the book collection of short stories by Qurrota Aini and their relevance as literature reading material in Elementary Schools. This research was a qualitative research with descriptive analysis. Data collection techniques used were library techniques, notes, interviews, and questionnaires. The data analysis technique used was interactive analysis proposed by Miles and Huberman. The instrument used to know the relevance of the collection of short stories by Qurrota Aini as reading material in elementary schools were by listing questionnaire questions and interviews. The speakers in the study were three elementary school teachers from SD Pahlawan Nasional Medan and thirty-three elementary school students. Based on the results of the study it can be concluded that there are thirteen character values contained in the two books of the collection of short stories by Qurrota Aini, namely religious values, honest values, disciplined values, hard work values, creative values, independent values, values of love for the country, values of respect for achievement, values friendly, peace-loving values, love reading values, social care values and values of responsibility. Based on the results of questionnaires and interviews with teachers and students, it can be said that the book collection of short stories by Qurrota Aini is very relevant for literary reading in elementary schools.
Keywords: Reading Material, Short Stories, character values
