Philosophy · Ages 0–10

Stoicism

Stoicism is an ancient practice for the moment after something goes wrong: stop, see what is really yours to decide, and do the good thing that is left. A Roman emperor leaned on it through plague and war, and it fits a three-year-old's bad morning just as well.

Choose a bookWhy we love it
Cover of Stoicism: Three Simple Words, for ages 0–4Ages 0–4Cover of Stoicism: The Four Virtues, for ages 3–7Ages 3–7Cover of Stoicism: The Painted Porch, for ages 6–10Ages 6–10
Three ancient figures in robes stand on a grassy hill with their backs to us, looking at a rainbow beside a dark rain cloud, in cut-paper collage

A page from Stoicism: Three Simple Words

Why we love it

Seneca's fountain.

Seneca walks past a fountain, dips his hand in, and watches the water drip off his fingers: this is real, right now. His word in our toddler book is NOW, because time only goes one way; you can't save it, but you can use it. The real Seneca opened his first letter to Lucilius the same way, telling him to hold on to every hour.

Toddler book, ages 0–4 ↓

Just a wave.

When his little sister runs through his block tower, the boy's face goes hot and his fists go tight, and then something in him says wait: the feeling is not his boss, it is just a wave. He breathes in and out until it gets smaller. Marcus wrote that he should be like a headland, standing firm while the waves break around it.

Picture book, ages 3–7 ↓

The bookseller.

Zeno, a young dye trader, loses his whole cargo in a storm and washes up in Athens with nothing, so he wanders into a bookshop, reads a few pages about Socrates, and asks where he can find people like this. The bookseller points at a philosopher walking past and says: there, follow him. Zeno said later that the shipwreck was the best thing that ever happened to him.

Chapter book, ages 6–10 ↓

Which book for your child?

Cover of Stoicism: Three Simple Words, for ages 0–4

Ages 0–4 · Toddler book · Read to them

Stoicism: Three Simple Words

Three ancient philosophers, three words a toddler can use: choose, now, try. Boots in rain, towers falling down, big feelings before bed, scenes your kid already lives, with the Stoic framework underneath. They won’t remember the philosophers’ names. They’ll remember the words.

24 pages · about 390 words · cut-paper collage

Good to know
There is no plot. Epictetus, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius each get a few pages, and between them a small child tries out each idea: sharing an apple with a friend, running to hug a parent, sitting calmly in a mess of spilled paint, turning cartwheels at sunset. Epictetus “had a very hard life,” and the book leaves it there.
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A child in yellow rain boots leaps into a puddle in the pouring rain, arms flung wide, in cut-paper collage
You can't choose if it rains. But you can choose to put your boots on. SPLASH!
Marcus Aurelius in a crown sits on a tall throne while two men holding scrolls talk at him from either side, in cut-paper collage
He had a golden crown. And a very big chair. But even emperors can have bad days.
A boy stumbles on a path as the scoop flies off his ice cream cone, in cut-paper collage
Because nobody's perfect! And sometimes things happen to us that we can't control.
Cover of Stoicism: The Four Virtues, for ages 3–7

Ages 3–7 · Picture book · Read together

Stoicism: The Four Virtues

Marcus Aurelius wrote his diary by candlelight in a tent two thousand years ago. He named four virtues, wisdom, justice, courage, moderation, that still hold up. Wisdom is the pause that holds what matters. Justice is the balance only you can see. Courage is reaching across empty space. Moderation is being bigger than the wave. Four words your child can practice in moments they actually face.

36 pages · about 650 words · soft crayon

Good to know
A bird's nest lies tipped over in the grass with an egg beside it, and the boy leaves the egg alone and runs inside to get Dad. That is the first of four everyday scenes, each closed by Marcus naming one virtue; Marcus, who lived two thousand years ago, turns up in the pictures beside the boy.
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A boy in a blue shirt reaches toward two big frosted cupcakes on a table, with a small one beside them, in soft crayon
His hand went out toward a big one. The frosting had sprinkles. No grown-up was looking. Nobody would know.
A boy holds out his hand to a boy in a striped shirt standing by a park bench, with play equipment behind them, in soft crayon
"Hi," he said. "Wanna play?" The new kid blinked. Then grinned and hopped down.
Marcus Aurelius, in a laurel wreath, bows in the shadowy corner of a room while the boy works at a desk under a lamp, in soft crayon
In the corner, Marcus was fading. He gave a small bow. Then he was just an empty spot.
Cover of Stoicism: The Painted Porch, for ages 6–10

Ages 6–10 · Chapter book · They start reading alone

Stoicism: The Painted Porch

A trader who lost everything in a shipwreck and started a school on a public porch. A boxer who hauled water at night for forty years to keep that school alive. A senator who would not lie to Caesar. A slave who taught his students what freedom is. A tired emperor writing reminders to himself by lamplight. Six real lives across five hundred years carrying four practices, wisdom, justice, courage, moderation, that still work.

80 pages · about 7,500 words · 21 black-and-white drawings

Good to know
Epictetus is sold as a small boy, and one old story says his master broke his leg. Nero has his own mother killed; Cato reads a book about Socrates on his last night and dies that night, and Seneca dies calmly with his wife beside him after Nero's order arrives. Both deaths are suicides, though the book never uses the word or says how.
Also inside
Pronunciations for every Greek and Roman name as each one appears, and short lines from Marcus's own notebook. The last chapter brings the four virtues into a school hallway and the dishes at home.
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Cleanthes, an old man in a short tunic, pulls a bucket up from a round stone well, in black-and-white line art
Every night, hauling water, Cleanthes had a thousand chances to tell himself a story.
Epictetus, an old bearded man on a bench, talks while a young student beside him writes on a tablet, in black-and-white line art
Arrian later became an important general and historian. He sat in the front row every day and wrote down what his teacher said, word for word.
An older bearded man in a long robe hands a scroll to a curly-haired boy, in black-and-white line art
The most important thing Rusticus did was hand Marcus a book.

The original

The real Stoicism

  • Founded by Zeno of Citium
  • Athens, around 300 BC
  • Five centuries, Athens to Rome

Stoicism started as an open, public school on the Stoa Poikile in Athens and lasted into the Roman Empire. The Stoic books most people read today come from its Roman years: Seneca's letters, the Discourses and Handbook of Epictetus, and the private notebook of Marcus Aurelius we call the Meditations.

When you want more

From the blog

Why We Made Stoicism for Kids

Our Stoicism books for ages 0–10 give toddlers three words, teach the four virtues to ages 3–7, and follow six Stoics from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius.

More big ideas

Cover of Marcus Aurelius: The Little Book, for ages 0–4Cover of Marcus Aurelius: The Emperor's Journal, for ages 3–7Cover of Marcus Aurelius: The Emperor's Meditations, for ages 6–10

Marcus Aurelius

A Roman emperor kept a private notebook of reminders to be patient, fair and calm, and probably never meant anyone else to read it.

Cover of Machiavelli: The Fox and the Lion, for ages 0–4Cover of Machiavelli: How to Prince and Princess, for ages 3–7Cover of Machiavelli: The Patterns of Power, for ages 6–10

Machiavelli

For centuries “Machiavellian” has meant sneaky and untrustworthy. The man behind the word served a republic, was jailed and tortured when it fell, and wrote a book in praise of republics.

Cover of Alfred the Great: The Comeback King, for ages 0–4Cover of Alfred the Great: A Monk's Tale, for ages 3–7Cover of Alfred the Great: The Making of England, for ages 6–10Cover of Alfred the Great: Secret Nerd, for ages 9–12

Alfred the Great

A king hides in a swamp, burns a stranger's bread (so the legend goes), comes back to save his kingdom, and spends the peace on schools and books.