Another useful addition to the Learning Skills series which helps children to navigate the information jungle. It is a revised edition of the 2020 book Question Everything that has been updated to include AI.
The reader is guided through the range of information we meet everyday from social media to buses. We are given suggestions to help us think for ourselves to discover “true, balanced facts”. The section on news stories could inspire further work and asks us to consider if a news story is full of facts or speculation. The double-page on extracting the facts is helpful and I enjoyed the Disaster Dossier that encourages the reader to consider the difference between primary and secondary facts. The author considers fake news and disinformation and the Crime-Busting section asks “What questions would you ask if you were a detective on the case?” There is coverage of number-crunching, and we are invited to come up with a theory to explain a mystery. Big words and scary headlines are explored and we learn how to recognise old news and check sources. We look at adverts, how to write in your own words and the author covers on-line issues, including a double-page on Staying Safe Online. The book concludes with The Rights of the Fake-News Fighter!
A hallmark of this series is the excellent page design with appealing illustrations and plenty of colour. Information is presented in bite-size chunks that are easily digested and a range of techniques is used including noticeboards, speech bubbles, diagrams, infographics and different fonts. Words To Know Boxes are threaded throughout the book with a white background. The pitch is age appropriate, and explanations are clear. Suggestions for activities encourage an interactive approach.
Throughout the book the approach has a light touch but it deals with a serious important issue for today’s children. An important book that deserves a place in all primary schools.
Brenda Marshall
How To Question Everything – A Kids’ Toolkit for Critical Thinking by Susan Martineau
Designed and illustrated by Vicky Barker
bsmall publishing
ISBN 9781916851962
£8.99
Published 2026
