Our Story
About Little Heroes
“
All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
— Tolstoy
I
A World of Character
My name is Monica. I hold a Master's degree in neuropsychology focused on primary school education, and I began my career as a teacher — following in my mother's footsteps.
Like many teachers, I entered the profession believing school was where children learned how to become fully human. How to grow. How to live well. But over time, something became impossible to ignore. Nothing in my training — and almost nothing in the state curriculum — focused on the formation of a child's character.
II
Character > Information Recall
Children in school are taught information, rules, how to sit still, follow instructions, and recall facts. But there is no real attention given to who they were becoming, their unique interests or gifts.
Very little space is made for developing courage, honesty, self-restraint, kindness, or judgement — the inner qualities that actually determine how a person lives their life. I began to feel that we were preparing children to become excellent at compliance and memory, but not at living.
III
Why I Left Teaching
That realisation is what eventually led me to leave teaching. Later, when I became a mother myself, the question became unavoidable.
“
If schools are not forming character, then who is?
As parents, we cannot outsource the formation of our children's character to institutions designed primarily to teach skills and manage behaviour. And yet, when we look for guidance, we are often given trends, techniques, or short-term fixes — not a coherent framework for raising good human beings.
That's when Matthew and I returned to something very old.
IV
Introducing Aristotle
More than two thousand years ago, Aristotle taught that the purpose of education was not success, but eudaimonia — human flourishing. He believed that a good life is built through the steady practice of virtue: qualities like courage, honesty, patience, justice, and self-control.
Not taught through lectures — but formed through habit, example, and daily life. This understanding became the foundation of Little Heroes.
Marcus Aurelius
V
Why We Created Letters For Little Heroes
Letters for Little Heroes began as a family idea as our son approached his second birthday, just before we welcomed our daughter. Like many parents, we felt both wonder and concern about the pace and state of the world. We wanted to give our children a magical childhood, but also to prepare them for life.
Our son was energetic and restless, not one for sitting still or taking instruction. But he loved stories. And so did we.
With a writer for a father — Matthew — and Monica's own background in neuropsychology and primary education, the idea of using storytelling as character education came naturally. The question was: what kind of stories?
VI
Stories With a Moral Core
We were drawn to stories like Gladiator, The Lord of the Rings, and Band of Brothers — stories with a moral core, where character matters and choices have weight.
As a writer, Matthew in particular has always loved historical fiction and narratives shaped by inner virtue. As a student of philosophy, he's long been drawn to one central question: how should we live?
Among many influences, Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics stood out. Written seemingly as guidance for his son, it offers a simple and profound framework for the good life: happiness comes from living with virtue. Aristotle called this eudaimonia — human flourishing.
We share his belief that a good life is not defined by comfort or success alone, but by character. The path to flourishing is the steady practice of virtues such as courage, honesty, perseverance, wisdom, and fairness. If character shapes destiny, then raising good people is the surest way to raise happy ones.
So we set out to create entertaining, beautifully told stories about real heroes who embodied these virtues — without ideology or agenda — trusting that children learn best through example, imagination, and repetition.
Balian of Ibelin
Each letter is a small act of education in the ancient sense of the word — to draw out what is already within.
We hope you and your family love reading the letters, and learning about the heroes who embodied them, as much as ours does.
Begin Your Family's Virtue Journey