Susan Marineau is an author, editor and first-class fact finder who writes creative and educational books for children. Her book Real-Life Mysteries was the winner of the Blue Peter Book Award for Best Book with Facts 2018. She has been writing information books for children for over 20 years, but began her career as a nonfiction-books editor with the BBC in London. She has lived in several different countries, including France and Malaysia, but is now based in the UK. She was a kid who always wanted to know about everything, so she researches and writes the kind of books she would have liked as a child!

Vicky Barker is b small publishing's creative director and a Blue Peter Book Award-winning illustrator for Real-life Mysteries. Vicky graduated from Liverpool John Moores University and has designed and illustrated for publishers such as Usborne, Egmont and Catnip. For b small publishing, Vicky has illustrated the STEM Starters for Kids series, Paper Toys, Infographics for Kids, FACTS, Geographics and many more. Vicky lives by the sea in West Sussex.

"Gives middle grade readers familiar examples of misinformation and disinformation often found in online ads, news stories, and social media. Barker's graphic design layouts cleverly mimic the attention-grabbing websites Martineau is critiquing within the text. A resource about sources with lots to like."

-- "School Library Journal (SLJ)"

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers

Pub date: 2026-02-17

Length: 40 pages