SuperQuesters by Dr Thomas Bernard and Lisa Moss
Dr Thomas Bernard and Lisa Moss co- authors of the SuperQuesters series discuss why they created their publishing company QuestFriendz and the importance of getting young children engaged and learning about the climate crisis without it appearing overwhelming.
When our twin daughters were younger, Thomas and I were looking for books and toys that would encourage early learning STEM skills development. What we discovered was that the options for books, games and toys were limited for the younger age group. Shocked at the lack of choice and the negative stereotypes still being shared with children, such as only showing scientists as boys who wear white lab coats, we decided we had to do something about it. This was the genesis of our children’s publishing company QuestFriendz and the creation of the SuperQuesters series. The SuperQuesters series is a fiction adventure series with an educational non-fiction learning twist.
We have set out to help make STEM learning interesting and accessible for all children across gender, diverse ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds. Children at a young age need to have opportunities to practice and develop their STEM skills, helping to build confidence in this area over time. A perfect way to do this is through reading. Children can enjoy a fun story while simultaneously learning about diverse STEM themed topics and develop key STEM skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving and reasoning. Plus they are improving their overall vocabulary and literacy levels
We feel it is our responsibility as publishers to help provide content and material that is inclusive, relevant and accessible to all young children, helping them to begin their journey into enjoying STEM, inspiring the next generation of super problem-solvers and curious creators. Adventure fiction with relatable and accessible role model characters is a great way to immerse children, especially younger children and reluctant readers fully in the book and spark their interest in STEM learning. Another part of our publishing strategy is to engage children with challenging topics such as climate crisis without it appearing overwhelming. We have done this by using environmental themes including renewable energy, biofuels, recycling, water pollution and sustainability in two books in the series, SuperQuesters: The Case of the Great Energy Robbery and SuperQuesters: The Case of the Angry Sea. This is particularly salient with “Climate change” having been chosen as Children’s word of the year for 2023 according to research by Oxford University Press (OUP.)*
To integrate climate change into the story, each book has an overarching environmental theme in SuperQuesters: The Case of the Great Energy Robbery, that theme is renewable energy including biofuels, while in SuperQuesters: The Case of the Angry Sea, we focus on water pollution and introduce sub-topics of recycling and sustainability. By introducing young children to these issues in story form, it encourages children and their grown-ups to start a conversation about the general theme of the climate crisis. Our SuperQuesters – and, therefore, the reader – are given quests to solve in Questland where they are tasked to find sources of renewable energy and ways to help stop water pollution in our oceans.
We hope that by reading about the SuperQuesters’ adventures and the way that the characters address environmental challenges, by breaking them down into smaller ‘bite-size’ pieces, the topics become more approachable for children. We hope that it also helps to stimulate them to think about ways in which they too can make a difference at home, at school and in their local community.
Picture books and stories have the potential to open new worlds to children that they would not otherwise know existed and immerse them in topics that encourage them to stop, think and reflect. Embedding non-fiction facts and information within a fiction story that includes characters and their motivations, can help to build children’s understanding and awareness in engaging and memorable ways.
With the current environmental climate crisis, parents, carers and educators more than ever need to help children understand how they can make a difference, no matter how small. At the same time, we need to build a level of resilience for young children whom whilst becoming aware of the climate crisis also can develop “eco anxiety”. By giving children an active role, such as teaching them about sustainability and how to recycle, they can become empowered and believe that their simple changes can make a difference, which they do!
Find out more about QuestFriendz and the SuperQuesters series, Book 4: SuperQuesters: The Case of the Angry Sea out March 14th 2024 and discover our downloadable resources at: www.questfriendz.com
We would love to hear your thoughts on our SuperQuesters series, you can drop us a line at: hello@questfriendz.com or @QuestFriendz
*Source Climate change named Children’s Word of the Year for 2023 – Oxford University Press (oup.com)