import string
import operator
import collections


# example data
chars = {c: n for n, c in enumerate(string.ascii_uppercase)}

sorted_chars = sorted(chars.items(), key=operator.itemgetter(1))
# chars.items() returns a list with tuples
# each tuple is a key-value pair
# the sorted function accepts a key function for sorting
# operator.itemgetter(1) returns a function, which returns
# the second element of a list

# if you want to have a "sorted" dict, you should use OrderedDict from collections
sorted_chars_dict = collections.OrderedDict(sorted_chars)