Thinking and Us!

There are five senses that are considered classic: smell, vision, touch, hearing, and taste. There are three others we don’t normally think about: proprioception (sense of the unity of our body), vestibular (which allows us to perceive our movement), and introception (with which we detect what is happening inside the body).

The world needs children who know how to search for reliable and verified sources of information effectively to support their judgments about the truth and lies of what they see and hear. This book teaches them how to do it. We will learn all about critical thinking through a journey where we will find werewolf children, language inventor twins, pranksters with deformed hands, the karma police and many debates between Nina and Manu, two siblings with different visions of what they like or what matters most to them. Thinking and Us seeks to turn us into flexible and critical people, willing to be deliberate, respectful and live with those who think differently.

Key points

• Society misuses our autonomous thinking ability. With this book, we can learn how to think for ourselves.
• Children will learn to reflect on their own, allowing them to question and understand arguments. They will be able to discern if the arguments are consistent, based on logical fallacies, or flawed by neurocognitive or emotional effects.
• Children will learn to detect fake news and how to avoid being deceived.
• We explain the dangers of believing in absolute truths, as well as disliking admitting errors and systemic doubt. This way we can keep children from having unfounded prejudice, being scared of novelty, or having a low creative ability.

Rodrigo Lara Serrano

2021 – IBBY Chile Award, Best Collection, Conscious Citizen (La Bonita Ediciones)
2014 – Short Story Contest, Paula Magazine (Chile)

Sole Sebastián

2020 – The White Ravens List
2020, 2012 – IBBY Chile Award, Young Adults Non Fiction/Children Illustration
2020 – IBBY Colombia Award, Highly Recommended Book
2012 – International Latino Book Awards USA, Honourable Mention