We are delighted to welcome Susan Martineau to the blog to talk about writing Question Everything! a fascinating book about critical literacy skills.  In this article, Susan discusses the importance of critical literacy, navigating fake news and some of the background to writing Question Everything!

We live in an information jungle. How can we help young readers to navigate safely through it to explore the world confidently and safely? They need to be armed with some essential critical literacy skills to find their way to reliable sources of information, to ask questions and to think for themselves.

I am not an expert on anything but, as a children’s information book author, I think I am good at digging out accurate facts. Question Everything! started out as a ‘toolkit’ for anyone interested in investigating further after reading two of my other books, Real-life Mysteries and Real-life Disasters. However, in this era of fake news, it quickly evolved into a more comprehensive travel guide to my fact-finding world, offering advice to all readers navigating the information jungle.

One place that needs especially critical antennae is the online world. The internet is the most amazing research tool, but I’ve seen so much rubbish, and convincing-sounding half-truths, along my fact-finding journey each time I write a new information book. I’ve certainly needed all the critical literacy skills I can muster. In Question Everything! I’ve shared my tips on how to travel safely online and watch for the trapdoors.

As well as finding my way around online, I love rootling in libraries. Libraries have always seemed a wonderful treasure trove ever since I was a child being left to roam our local one. I love looking for THE perfect fascinating facts that I think readers will love. Then I worry until I’ve been able to doublecheck them as I am always in fear of getting facts wrong or half-baked. ‘Corroborate and verify’ is my fact-finding mantra.

I like talking to librarians and booksellers about my ideas for new books, too. I’d always wanted to write a book about mysteries for children and was encouraged by a chat with one of the children’s booksellers in Blackwell’s, Oxford, my favourite shop of all time. (I also enjoy a bit of ‘guerrilla’ marketing by turning any of my books, if spotted, face out!)

I’ve tried to make Question Everything! entertaining along the way. I find fun things easier to remember so I think it’s a good approach, and I’m a massive fan of Vicky Barker’s illustrations which have done most of the work for me. All my books always include ‘big words to know’, because I’m always learning tons of new ones as I research and write and I really enjoy handing them on to readers. But in Question Everything! I’ve also encouraged the readers to question why certain words, some of them very big (and possibly scary-sounding), are used in news headlines.

My research and writing often takes me into weird and peculiar places, too. Real-life Mysteries includes the gruesome outlandishness of spontaneous human combustion, for example. However, I’ve given a few school talks and I know that young readers like spooky stuff as much as I do. It is also wonderful when a parent or teacher says a child ‘never’ reads but something intriguing in my books has really grabbed them.

My parents let me have free run of the books in our house and, like my father, I am now also a certified book hoarder. My grown-up children like to remind me that whenever they came home with a homework project I’d usually say ‘oh, I think I’ve got a book about that’, whether they wanted my help or not. But one of them is now a documentary film-maker so I like to think that I’ve passed on my fact-finding zeal.

It might be harder for all of us to keep feeling brave and adventurous at the moment, but children’s curiosity and exploration of the world of information still has to be encouraged and their questions to be answered. It can sometimes be a challenge if you are the parent of a child like one of mine who asked questions just at the trickiest and most inappropriate moment. ‘Mummy, I know how the baby gets out, but how did it get in?’ was a highlight in the supermarket.

It is also crucial for children to learn and practise their critical literacy skills so that they can imagine their own future path through the world around them. As a girl who grew up in an era when woodwork and metalwork at school was only for the boys (they even had a car workshop which looked like much more fun than sewing!) I want young readers to feel that there are no limits on what they can choose to do in their lives, no matter their background, race or gender. If Question Everything! can help them on their way, then I’m a very happy fact nerd.

Thank you to Susan Martineau for the blog piece and to B Small Publishing for the opportunity.