T This study aims to design a children\\\'s illustrated book entitled kiki, yaya,and sahabat baru as an educational medium to instill the values of mutual respectfor ethnic, racial, religious, and intergroup diversity (sara) in indonesia from anearly age. the study is motivated by indonesia\\\'s rich cultural diversity, which isstill accompanied by various forms of intolerance, stereotypes, and bullying,highlighting the need for engaging and child-friendly character education media.the design process employed the design thinking approach, consisting of thestages of empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. data were collected throughliterature review, observation, interviews, and questionnaires involving the targetaudience. the final design is a children\\\'s illustrated book featuring a cartoon-stylevisual approach supported by appropriate color schemes, typography, layout, andinteractive elements such as glow in the dark effects and emotion sticker quizzesto enhance children\\\'s reading engagement. a companion guidebook for parents wasalso developed to support the delivery of educational messages during sharedreading activities. the testing results indicate that the designed media receivedpositive responses from the target audience and effectively increased children\\\'sinterest in learning about tolerance, empathy, and respect for diversity. therefore,the illustrated book has the potential to serve as an effective character educationmedium for early childhood learners.