A Kid Investigator Takes on Bigfoot

One of the very best things about writing kids books is reading the letters that kids send me. Of course these days the “letters” are mostly emails from parents and messages through social media, but the effect is the same: it makes my day.

I recently got an email from a parent whose son read Beyond Belief: The Phantom of Highcastle. The mom was thrilled that her son was so excited to read. She was also happy that he wanted to be a skeptical critical thinker, just like Kenai, the hero of the book. He was so inspired he sat down and wrote me letter sharing his thoughts about Bigfoot. He had been doing some critical thinking about the subject, and here is some of what he wrote:

I know most people believe in bigfoot. In the past photos were blurred, and today cameras are much better, and yet pictures are still blurred.

Your suspicious investigator

Wow kid! Now that is great critical thinking. You are right. Even as technology has improved, the quality of the evidence has not. Which is pretty telling when you think about it. I absolutely love that this boy is thinking critically about something fun like bigfoot. I firmly believe that when kids learn how to think critically about legends and fables like this, it prepares them to think critically when they encounter hoaxes, scams, and misinformation. And creating a generation of critical thinkers is what the Beyond Belief series is all about.

If your kid loves Beyond Belief books don’t hesitate to write to me. I can be reached at raisingaskepticalkid at gmail.com. I respond to every letter and in most cases I send signed copies of books for kids (I’m a pushover like that).

Do you believe in raising a generation of critical thinkers? If so, check out the Beyond Belief book series. You can follow me on FaceBook too, where I’m most active, sharing updates about new books and memes about science.