FI_Lion Line_10/3/25
10/3/25
At SJCA, the stories we read are chosen with care. Literature and fairy tales are not just entertainment—they awaken the moral imagination and help scholars see virtue lived out in characters they come to love.
Vigen Guroian, in Tending the Heart of Virtue, reminds us that fairy tales often place characters in situations of trial and difficulty, and in watching them endure, children learn that “life is full of struggle, but it is a struggle worth engaging.” In this way, stories enlarge a child’s sense of the possible and prepare the heart to recognize and desire the good.
This month’s virtue is Perseverance, and one story, that we all know and love, beautifully captures it is The Tortoise and the Hare. The hare, confident and careless, gives up the race; but the slow and steady tortoise never stops pressing forward. Children delight in the story, yet at the same time they glimpse a truth: success often comes through steady perseverance, not speed or ease.
When you read with your child at home, look for these moments in stories—times when characters push forward, overcome, or patiently endure. Talk about how perseverance might look in their own lives: finishing a math problem, practicing piano, or working through a challenge with a sibling. These connections make the virtue real and memorable.
-Submitted by Dean of Academics K-6 Amy Melquist
